Candles In The Window
by scythespinner
Summary: Caught in a blizzard, Ed takes shelter at a tavern in an abandoned neighborhood, owned by a retired Captain. When he learns of the Captain's missing son, Ed offers to see what he can do to find him but finds secrets and bloodshed the further he digs...
1. Lost

Bits of ice and snow sailed through the freezing air, stinging Edward's cheeks as he slowly tromped through the deepening snow. The sun was almost completely set and he felt that he was no closer to Central City than he had been a few hours ago; then again, it had been snowing for hours, so it felt almost likely that he'd only moved a few feet since then. He took one slow step, and then another, and gave out a frustrated cry as his left knee buckled under him, bringing him to his knees in the deep snow. Edward was soaked from head to toe and the temperature was dropping rapidly as the last rays of the sun faded to deep purple, casting odd reflections off of the growing mounds of white. _City limits have to be around here somewhere_, Ed thought as he slowly stood, wincing as his automail joints creaked and ground together in the cold. He trudged forward and looked around. All he could see was a never-ending whiteness in any direction, and still a far ways from the suburbs of Central City.

He passed an old dilapidated building frame that was missing its long-since rotted walls. There were more buildings up ahead, he was certain, but when he'd passed through here before he'd noted that this whole neighborhood was ghost town and had been so for several years. All that was left were frames and crumbling plaster and scattered bricks, half-buried by mud and snow like a silent monument to something that nobody remembered. _I've got to find some kind of shelter_, he thought as he lifted his right arm in front of his face to shield it from some of the blasting ice. _Or make a lean-to, or something! I can't get dry out here, and if I spend the night in this weather I'll be an Ed-sicle by dawn!_ He turned his face away from another forceful gust of wind, small crystalline shards embedding themselves in his matted hair as he was blinded by the wall of white. Edward carefully turned forward again, squinting. Was that a light up ahead? It hadn't been there before. He took a few more labored steps forward, his left knee no longer wanting to bend. His eyes opened wider with relief – there was a light! Ed picked up the pace, hoping that the soft golden glow was really a light and not just his tired mind playing tricks on him.

Edward paused briefly at the oak door with the carved granite rose on the front, glancing up at the hanging sign with gold lettering, reading _**STONE ROSE TAVERN. **_There was light coming from behind the windows and smoke from the chimney, so somebody must have been home. It pegged him as a little odd that he didn't remember any of these old businesses being open, but shrugged off of confusion as he pushed the heavy door open just enough to slide through and shut it immediately behind him. He stood there for a long moment, huffing and dripping in the doorway before taking off his soaked red coat to disengage the snow and ice from it. The sudden change in temperature stung against his flesh as he hung his coat on low-hanging peg in the doorway. "Hello," he called out cautiously. "Is anybody here?" Edward paused as he walked forward into the tavern, looking around as he passed a harpsichord. Along the low-rising wall next to the door were several booths with high, privacy-ensuring backs and were made of the same dark wood as the front door. Straight ahead was a long, granite-covered bar with more booths to its right along the wall. Edward walked toward the bar and saw a light coming from a door behind the bar that he could only assume went to the kitchen, but still saw nobody. "Hello?" He called a little louder and waited, but there was still no answer. The wind outside let out a shrill howl, catching the boy off guard as he made his way through the small round tables and taking a seat on a plush, over-stuffed ottoman in front of the fireplace in the far right corner.

He clapped his hands together and pressed them against his chest, drying his clothes and hair. Ed slumped into the cushions, periodically glancing at the raging blizzard outside, the wind screaming and the ice coming down in sheets like small, frozen daggers. _I'm so late_, he thought glumly, looking out at the storm. _Colonel Bastard's going to have a shit-fit when I finally get into the office. I was supposed to be there this afternoon! Stupid snow… _He blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to fight off the drowsy feeling that the warm fire was wrapping him in.

"Adrian? Is that you?" Edward's eyes snapped open as he whirled around in his seat, staring up to meet deep green eyes hiding behind auburn curls. The woman looked the teenager up and down slowly then shook her head softly. "I'm sorry; I mistook you for someone else. Welcome to the Stone Rose. What can I do for you tonight?" Edward blinked at the tall and very pale woman who was apparently the hostess.

"Um, hi," Ed started as he pointed out toward the window. "The snowstorm was too thick for me to keep walking home, so I thought I'd come in here and wait it out if that's okay." Deep rouge lips smiled warmly as the woman took a seat next to her only guest.

"And you're welcome to stay as long as you like! I haven't had patrons in quite a while, so I'd love the company." She pushed her thick bangs behind her ears, showing the very fine crows' feet developing in the corner of her eyes. She held out her hand to shake with Edward. "Anouk Cully, at your service." Anouk took another look at the boy's face and stood up. "Well, you can't have been in here too long – your lips are almost blue from the cold! Let me get you something hot to take the chill off." Anouk quickly rose and walked behind the bar into the kitchen, leaving Edward once again alone. Save for the crackle of the fire, the tavern was silent. He peered around the room, relaxing and growing comfortable in the sleepy light of the fireplace. The gas light fixtures along the walls cast odd shadows on the framed photographs and portraits that hung all over the room

His eyes moved to the painting above the mantle and the small framed plaque with bar ribbons and a medal that hung to its side. The oil portrait boasted a much younger Anouk Cully, armed but smiling as though she were hiding something. _A dangerous smile to have in the Military, _Ed thought, recalling all the many dangerous secrets that he himself had learned over the years. The plaque and ribbons were also Cully's, promoting her to the rank of captain for her bravery and leadership skills.

"That was almost seventeen years ago." Edward jumped slightly, startled that he didn't hear Anouk come up behind him at all. "I retired from the Military a few years after that and opened the Stone Rose." Anouk smiled kindly and held out a large ceramic mug to Ed, who thanked her as he took a long, slow drink of the steaming brew. He swished the contents around, trying to shift a cinnamon stick and small bobbing cloves out of his way. Hot brandy, oranges, apples and spices came together, thawing every part of his body on the way down. "I've got some duck that should be done soon, if you're hungry." Anouk looked toward the door and Ed's hanging coat, and then back to the boy.

"You haven't got any companions out looking for you, do you? Surely you're a bit young to be traveling alone!" Ed blew on his mulled cider and looked up at his hostess, shaking his head.

"No, I'm alone. I was coming back from a mission for the Military when I got caught up in the snowstorm." He took another small sip. "Normally I take my younger brother along with me, but since this wasn't a hard task my boss told me to just go by myself." Edward frowned, straightening his posture, his voice taking on a mocking tone. "'_This'll be a snap! You don't need to take your little brother with you everywhere, Ed – you're not twelve anymore! Oh, it's just a few hours walk past City limits, be back by Wednesday afternoon!_'" He crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue, making a '_duuur_' sound as he smacked a limp wrist against his chest before huffing. "Stupid Colonel Bastard."

Anouk snickered lightly. "Glad to see that high-ranking officers are still as intelligent as ever!"

"Eh, he's not too bad, really. I've been working for him since I was twelve, so we've gotten pretty used to each other." Anouk blinked at her guest.

"…Twelve? Since when does the Military sign children? Surely Amestris can't be THAT hard up for soldiers!" Edward reached into his pocket, briefly showing her his pocket watch.

"I'm kind of the exception to that. My name's Edward Elric." Anouk shook her head, marveling at the boy. He was small for a boy, and certainly didn't look old enough to be a soldier, let alone State Alchemist. Edward was also a little surprised; most people in Central City had at least heard of him, so even if they hadn't seen him, once a name was put to the face they could put two and two together. But his hostess just seemed puzzled as she looked the boy over again, admitting that she'd indeed never heard of the child prodigy and lamenting that she hardly kept up with current affairs in town.

"Will wonders never cease," she asked at last, turning and walking back toward the kitchen and returning some minutes later carrying a tray with several broad plates over-filled with steaming food. Edward moved from his pile of cushions to the nearest table as the plates were set in front of him, dazzling his eyes with a small feast. He awed at the largest platter of glistening roast duck and vegetables and the small basket of rolls. Ed sheepishly looked up at Anouk.

"Erm, Mrs. Cully-"

"Just Anouk, love, please."

"Well, Anouk, this all looks fantastic, but I didn't bring much money with me since I wasn't anticipating being gone for so long." She gave Ed a warm, motherly smile.

"Oh, that's nothing to worry about, Edward. I don't worry about money any more, and you're the first company I've had in ages. I wouldn't dream of charging you anything! Now, you eat your dinner and I'll go make a bed for you. This place wasn't meant as an inn, but I do have a guest room you can use for the night and we'll see about getting you home tomorrow once the ice lets up." Edward smiled and thanked the woman as she walked across the room through a little door to the side of the entryway and vanishing up the stairs. He ate in the dim light, occasionally glancing up the creaks and moans of the house under the duress from the still-raging storm outside and casually noted that there didn't seem to be a telephone anywhere in the tavern.

_I guess I'll just be late and Mustang will have to deal with it_, Ed thought as he picked around a small patch of squishy pickled capers. Sometime later Ed pushed away his empty platter, noting contentedly that once they got his body back he'd have to bring Al here to eat. He yawned happily and stretched, the warmth of cider and a full belly making him feel incredibly relaxed and sleepy. He looked up to suddenly see Anouk standing next to the table, still finding it slightly off-putting that he didn't hear her come downstairs let alone approach him.

"There's a bed ready for you at the top of the stairs whenever you're ready," Anouk said gently as she began to stack the empty plates. "Is there anything else you need?" Edward shook his head.

"No thank you, but I was wondering what I could do for you. You've been a very kind hostess. Is there anything around here that needs fixing or something that needs doing?" Anouk chuckled lightly.

"I already told you, love; having company for a little while is all I need. It gets pretty lonely being the only one out here, you know. I've been alone in this area and in the Stone Rose for the last four years." She smiled faintly and shrugged a little. "But I guess somebody had to stay behind." Edward stood and took the load of plates from Anouk, walking with her back to the kitchen.

"I was meaning to ask you about that; what happened here? This whole neighborhood looks like it's been abandoned for years!"

Anouk nodded. "It has been. Four years ago there was a break-in, and then they accidentally set this whole neighborhood on fire. It took forever for help to come, and by dawn there was nothing left. Homes and businesses gone, our wares ruined, and I lost the most precious thing this tavern boasted; my little son." Edward looked up as Anouk averted her eyes as they glistened distantly. He set the dishes in the large basin and they walked back out of the kitchen with fresh flagons of cider.

"Was it the fire?" Anouk shook her head.

"I don't know why, but the men who came were after Adrian for some reason. I fought to stop them, but in the end, I was overpowered, my restaurant was set on fire, and then my son was gone. One minute we're opening presents by the fire, and the next? I'm left with nothing but my own broken self amidst ashes and snow." They sat down in the cushioned chairs by the fire, both quiet and taking slow sips of their drinks.

Edward finally spoke up. "What happened after that? Did you ever find out who took your son?" Anouk stared sadly into her drink, her reflection blurry.

"I tried so hard to find him, but whoever they were they covered their tracks too well and knew all the places I'd look and all the tricks I would try. None of my old unit members have talked to me since then, and my old contacts seem to all have vanished. But Adrian's alive and in Central City somewhere; that much I am sure of, so all I can do is wait for him to come home."

Ed's heart went out to the poor mother. "But why stay here? Why not reopen in city limits, where you can look for him better?" Anouk sighed softly.

"Adrian was... special. A little off. He's a brilliant boy, and some would say that at least musically he was truly gifted! But around strangers he's quiet and awkward; a little slow. It was almost his third birthday before he started talking." She leaned forward, peering deeply into the fire. "Adrian liked set patterns to things; breakfast always at seven thirty, pain pills at ten, lunch at half past noon... You know once when he was little I moved the furniture around in his bedroom to give him a bigger bed and he threw a fit! I was worried he'd never come out from his wardrobe." Anouk chuckled a little and took another long sip. "This is the only place Adrian's ever known as home, Edward. So if he ever finds his way out of wherever they've been keeping him, he'll be looking for this neighborhood, for this house. If I'm not here when that happens, he won't know where else to go." There was a long pause, soundless save for the crackle of the fire and sipping of their drinks.

"How can you stay here, though? You said you don't get any business anymore."

"Sheer force of will! It's amazing what a person's soul can do with enough determination. After Adrian was stolen from me, I stopped worrying about money, and pretty much anything else in life. Believing that Adrian's alive and out there somewhere is the only way I've made it this far, and I'll be waiting here until the day he returns." Anouk lifted her mug high, draining the last of her cider and snuggling back into the recesses of the chair.

Ed distantly gazed into his own cider, recalling how heartbroken he and Alphonse had been when they lost their mother, and wondered how if must feel to exist not knowing whether the person they lost is really dead or alive. He took another sip and stood slowly, the brandy reminding him of how tired he was. "You know, I've got the best resources at my disposal. I may not be able to find him, but maybe I can find out who took him, or at least keep an eye out for him. The Military always has me chasing my tail all over the place, so maybe I've run into him somewhere in the city." Anouk's face lit up at the boy's offer. "Can you give me a picture tomorrow before I leave?" Anouk nodded, wiping the brimming tears from her eyes as she rose to put out the lights behind them. Edward began to walk toward the stairs across the room and paused, looking behind him at Anouk as she lit a candle in a jar and placed it on the windowsill.

Anouk caught the curious glance as she put out the last light on the wall.

"It's an old tradition," she explained. "You light a candle in the windowsill so that somebody who's lost can find their way home. My mother did it for me every time I went into battle or off on some mission, and I always came back safely. So I leave candles in the window for Adrian." They walked up the stairs quietly and, just as promised, across from the stairs was a little door leading to a guest room.

The room was dark and quiet, colored all in soft cadet blue and highlights of pale gold and cream. There was a chest of drawers by the door, a fireplace along the outer wall, a bookcase full of books, and a little nightstand next to the very large bed; verily, everything a guest could want for comforts during their visit. Edward undressed quietly as he walked into the bathroom across from his bed. He quickly combed through his hair and re-braided it, finding it odd that there was another door on the other side of the bathroom. Curiosity got the better of him for the moment as he silently grasped the knob and turned, sticking his head through the door. The darkness made it hard to distinguish shapes at first, but as his eyes adjusted things began to clarify and he took a step in. Along the wall was a bookshelf and a wicker trunk and... a toy bear. A stuffed lion. A striped sailboat. Wooden soldiers. These were children's toys. Edward sadly looked around Adrian's room, cluttered with scattered toys that hadn't been put away presumably since he'd been kidnapped. He held his breath and listened closely; it was muffled but unmistakable. Alone in the dark, he could hear Anouk sobbing in her bedroom. Just as silently as he entered he shut the door behind him and slipped into his bed.

_I may not be able to find him_, he thought sadly. _He's been missing for four years... But maybe I can find... something. Some closure for her. _

_

* * *

_Edward rolled and shifted in his sleep, his eyebrows knitting tightly. He could hear a crackling noise, faint at first but growing slowly. He half moaned and rolled over, inhaling deeply and nearly choking on the smell. The smell of smoke and burning plaster filled his nostrils as every sense in his body tingled with shock, sending his body to bolt upright as his senses screamed that the house was on fire.

* * *

_A/N: If you've made it this far, tell me what you think, please! I love to know how people are liking the story - it helps motivate me to write more! :3 And don't worry, he'll be leaving Anouk and back to the office with people we all know tomorrow. By the by, please don't razz me about Ed drinking the mulled cider. Where I come from, 14 is a legal drinking age with an adult (because we're taught to drink responsibly from a young age and the water is shit lol), and 16 without one. _


	2. Greeneyed Wolf

_ Edward rolled and shifted in his sleep, his eyebrows knitting tightly. He could hear a crackling noise, faint at first but growing slowly. He half moaned and rolled over, inhaling deeply and nearly choking on the smell. The smell of smoke and burning plaster filled his nostrils as every sense in his body tingled with shock, sending his body to bolt upright as his senses screamed that the house was on fire. _

_

* * *

_Edward panted deeply, gasping at first as his heart raced with the rush of adrenaline, sending his every nerve into overdrive and looked around cautiously. He saw no sign of smoke from under his door, and he could no longer hear the burning fire. _What the Hell was that_, he wondered, still eying the room suspiciously as he quickly dressed, trying to mentally prepare himself for the unknown. Ed crossed the room and quickly tapped at the brass doorknob and was surprised at how cold it was. He paused in confusion. _But there was smoke_, he thought as he turned the knob. _I smelled it! You can't smell your dreams!_ He quickly trotted down the stairs, taking careful note of his surroundings. He was still at the tavern of the Stone Rose. There was no smoke and there was no fire. _But it was so real..._

The restaurant was again empty, bright light pouring in through the windows and casting colorful beams through the stained glass roses in the corners. Ed looked at the fireplace where he and Anouk had been sitting the previous night and saw a fresh fire burning. He moved to the windows, looking outside. Though the sky was a solid overcast white, it had stopped snowing and looked like it would hold at least long enough to get home. Ed stood a moment, trying to gauge the distance between here and city limits before turning around to see a large plate stacked high with pancakes be placed on the table across from the fire.

"Did you sleep well," Anouk asked warmly, the light from outside illuminating her skin and making her seem all the more pale. "Would you care for milk or coffee?" Ed smiled happily and sat down as two smaller plates of bacon and toast were placed nearby. He wondered if all her guests were this well-fed as he reached for the strawberry jam.

"Yes, I did, thank you very much. And coffee, please. Always coffee." He smeared a large pat of goo on top of the thick pancakes. Anouk vanished behind the bar and returned with a steaming mug of all that was good and right in the world. Anouk gently wiped at the tables and booths with a cleaning cloth, humming lightly while Edward ate. "So, how much further is it from here to city limits?" She looked up and thought a moment as though trying to remember.

"About ten kilometers if you keep on this street, I think. So it shouldn't take you more than an hour or two to re-enter the city, and from there I trust you know where home is?" Edward nodded, relieved that it wasn't going to be as far as he was afraid it was and jammed another pancake down his mouth. He crunched on a long strip of bacon, making noises that sounded vaguely like words about the food being so good. Anouk laughed a little at the teen's ravenous appetite, commenting that it must be a boy thing; both her brother and her son were bottomless pits. Ed looked up, pancake crumbs lining his mouth, making Anouk laugh again.

"That reminds me," he said, wiping his face. "Did you have a spare photograph of your son that I could take with me? If I can show it to the people working in my office, we can spread our efforts and maybe find him sooner." Anouk nodded and said she'd be back, and vanished into the kitchen for several long minutes. It was nearly ten minutes before she reappeared, now holding a single photograph in her hands. Ed looked up at Anouk, noting that her eyes seemed bleary. He winced slightly, a pang of guilt stabbing him inwardly as his brain tried in vain to choke up an apology. Anouk sat across from him at the table and placed the picture in front of her guest.

"This was the last picture of us taken before he vanished," Anouk said quietly, still trying to smile. "He vanished on the winter solstice, and this was taken just a few weeks prior. He had just turned ten in this picture, an will have just turned fourteen two weeks ago."

"Fourteen? Huh. My little brother's fourteen too." Edward looked over the photo carefully, committing the boy's features to his memory and examining them carefully. At a glance, Adrian looked like a normal little boy. But as he looked closer at his face, small features just seemed to be slightly... _off_. In the photo, Adrian sat in front of his mother's lap as she pulled him close to her, her hand squeezing his shoulder, snowy white-blond curls dripping over his face and shoulders. The child was smiling, but his upper lip rose slightly in the center with a small cleft. His nose tapered downward and became slightly flat and angled around the bottom. His visible ear was wider than average and seemed to point at the top. Ed scrutinized the features quietly for a long moment, concluding that the strange, exaggerated features gave Adrian an almost feline appearance. He fixated on the child's pale, ice-colored eyes; were it not for that hint of gray color and the black rims, one would think the boy had no iris color at all. Ed finally put the photo down, looking up at Anouk. "If you don't mind my asking, what happened to his mouth?"

"Well, I told you before that Adrian was a little different than most other boys his age. Apparently he was born deformed; what you see is called a cleft, dear, though usually they're more extreme than that. But his mannerisms and appearance put people off. Most people around here knew that he was just a child and harmless, but my brother was convinced that Adrian was some sort of monster. But then again, Peter always was one for appearances and rules and social norms." She paused for a long moment, recalling that she hadn't actually seen her older brother since she fought with him about Adrian all those years ago.

Ed nodded understandingly, knowing that there were several people out there who felt uncomfortable looking at his automail arm. The pitying looks; the snide remarks about being a handicap; the fact that many people thought you were less of a person for being atypical. Then something caught his mind. "Wait, 'apparently'? You're not certain about his deformities?"

"It's true, I didn't give birth to Adrian, but I am his mother. On my very last mission, before I retired, I found Adrian abandoned. There was nobody to care for him, and he just felt so right with me. So natural. So I had my mother care for him for two weeks while I resigned."

"Okay, so now I have a face to work with. Can you remember anything about the men who broke in and took him? Anything at all?" Anouk paused again, thinking.

"There were three of them, and they were definitely members of the military; one was wearing an outdated uniform. But they all had their faces covered. The leader didn't speak, but he was a very large, broad man, and if he survived out little encounter the bastard will be missing his left arm." Ed's eyes peered at Anouk over the rim of his coffee cup, a little nervous about asking. "I shot him in the cellar at point-blank range with a forty-five caliber rifle. His arm didn't stand a _chance_." Ed swallowed nervously.

"Do you always keep gigantic rifles in the cellar?" Anouk laughed lightly.

* * *

"Love, I keep my life in the cellar. My gun cabinet was down there, and I've got several lead and iron fire safes down there for all the important things in life. Medical records, photo albums... You name it. But there's also a back exit through the cellar, and I was trying to get Adrian through that exit and hold the men off. But apparently one of them was waiting outside for him..."

* * *

The snow and ice crunched steadily beneath Edward's feet as he marched on, making much better time now that it wasn't snowing. After such a large breakfast he hardly felt his cheeks flushing against the chilly bite of the wind. _Just a few more kilometers to go and I'll be almost home_, he thought as the edge of Central City came closer into view. _I really hope Alphonse didn't freak out too bad since I didn't come home last night_. His mind chugged along, keeping him from thinking about the below zero windchill. He had the photo Anouk had been so kind as to lend him, as well as a paper sack full of cranberry muffins and asked that he come back soon to visit and bring his brother with him. Ed had thanked her many times before leaving. _She reminds me of Ms Gracia; I'm sure Al will love to meet her! _His mind went back to the missing boy and he bit his lower lip in thought. _But what would soldiers want with an albino boy with a cleft lip?_

It was almost one when Edward arrived at his little Military apartment. He knew he needed to see his boss and that he was in for an earful, but since he was already a day late another half hour wouldn't hurt much worse. They both knew Alphonse worried easily, and having no way to call from the tavern didn't help. Alphonse stood still as a statue, staring dejectedly at the telephone in the hall, as though trying to will it into ringing. Colonel Mustang promised he'd call the instant he saw Ed (or at least after a good verbal thrashing). Suddenly the knob of the front door turned and Al's helmet-head turned with it.

"Al," Ed called out as the door opened all the way. "Al! I'm ho-AAAACK!"

There was a silver blur flying from one end of the room to the other like a metal hummingbird on a sugar rush with a high-pitched cry of elation. "Niiiiiiii-saaaaaaaaaaaaan!" Ed's eyes widened to terrified saucers as his irises shrank to tiny golden beads. There was no time to run and nowhere to run to. Huge metal arms grappled around the older blond, giving Ed a very realistic threat that he could be hugged to death. Al's voice was frantic. "Ed, where WERE you?! Roy said you were supposed to be back this time yesterday and then there was that blizzard and we didn't hear from you and nobody had seen you and you hadn't called...! Ed, why aren't you answering me?" Al looked down and quickly released Ed, who was turning a charming shade of blue. Ed coughed a little and rubbed the back of his head, smiling apologetically at his little brother.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Ed said as he caught his breath. "I got caught in the worst of the blizzard yesterday and couldn't keep walking in it because I was still a ways out. So I stopped at a tavern to thaw and wait out the storm, and ended up staying the night. I would have called, but Anouk didn't have a telephone." Alphonse sighed in relief, glad that Ed didn't freeze to death in the cold; today there was news all over Central that yesterday's storm was the worst they'd had in years, urging people to stay indoors or they could die of hypothermia.

"Well, you'd better call the Colonel; he was pretty annoyed that you were late, and when you never came home you could tell he was getting kind of antsy. I don't think he had been anticipating the snow to go nuts like that."

"Actually I just stopped in to let you know I was okay, and then I was heading straight there. But I should be home later and I'll tell you all about my night, 'kay?" Alphonse nodded as he sat down on the sofa, satisfied that Ed was, for now, okay.

* * *

The door to Colonel Mustang's office opened slowly and carefully, but nobody stood in the doorway or entered. Instead, a brown paper sack emerged, held aloft by two gloved hands. The sack and arms waited a moment in mid-air, waiting as though testing the water; if anyone was going to throw a stapler or something at him, Ed didn't want his head to be the first thing through the door. After no office supplies were hurled his way, Ed stepped inward, waving to his peers.

"So you didn't freeze," Havoc teased with a laugh as he strode over and clapped his hand on Ed's shoulder, trying to sneak a peek at the bag's contents. Ed stuck out his tongue and moved the bag over to the side. Roy looked up from his desk, cheek resting casually in his palm.

"You never checked in," Roy stated as Ed placed the sack down on one of the desks and began handing out muffins. "I don't suppose you wrote up your report while you were playing hookie?"

"Had to stay at a tavern waaaaaaaaay out there and the owner didn't have a phone." Roy arched an eyebrow at the boy's excuse as a muffin was handed to him. "I'm sorry; next time I'm stranded in the snow while it's thirty-two below zero, I'll be sure to ask whoever rescues me if they have a phone first." Ed took a seat at one of the tables and pulled out the necessary forms, ready to bore his superiors with all of the exciting details of the very enthusiastic cook who, according to rival restaurants, created frightening chimera chickens with multiples of every part of its body. How else could one man fry so many pieces of crunchy, delicious chicken in a single day and manage to steal all of their business? Although the food was delicious, the whole thing was beyond stupid. As Ed wrote up the papers he wondered if some people above him even thought about these kinds of incidents before they decided to send you out to investigate them.

"I find it funny that you had time to stop at a bakery on the way home, considering how late you were running." Ed rolled his eyes, not bothering to dignify Roy's sarcasm with a dirty look.

"The lady who put me up for the night sent them with me to share with everyone." Ed flipped the page over, taking a few seconds to shake the pen and redistribute its ink. "Though she did have a few choice words to say about sending people out on idiotic missions in bad weather." Roy snickered, munching on the fluffy pastry.

The next several minutes were oddly quiet as Edward scribbled quickly, trying to keep his mind on the stupid paperwork rather than better ways to spend his day. "So where to next," he asked as he handed the signed documents to Roy.

"Nowhere yet, so you've got some downtime until then. Unless you want to participate in an experiment to see how long it takes sarcastic teenagers to turn into snowballs."

"Oh, ha ha."

"But it's for science, Edward! Just think of the uses!" The whole unit snickered at the entertaining exchanges, Havoc teasing that Ed would be a sour-cherry popsicle. Ed blew a raspberry at Havoc as he headed toward the door.

"Well, call me if you need me. Until then you know where to find me." He waved behind him as he left and took a few steps down the hall and paused, thinking about where to go, especially since he had a few days to kill._ Looking into it couldn't hurt_, he thought as he turned right, heading down the corridor to see his favorite little bookworm. _I've got some time, an extra muffin, and someone who can help find files._

Ed knocked gently on the frame of the records department door before walking in. "Sciezka," he called politely, "you home?" He walked past the towering stacks of books and records logs, looking for her desk "Scieska?" Edward turned at another bookcase toward her desk. Sciezka didn't respond to his calls, her nose buried in an old, thick book with dark blue binding. He stood in front of her for a long moment, wondering if she was even remotely aware that someone had walked in. Grinning, Ed walked around the desk and stood next to her, peering over her shoulder at the large page's tiny print.

"Whatcha reading?

Scieska yelped, nearly dropping her page as she turned her head to Edward, smiling and nervously laughing. "Hello, Edward," she said sweetly. "Something I can help you with?" Ed smiled as he pulled the last large muffin of the paper sack and held it up, offering it to her. Sciezka happily accepted the snack, suddenly remembering that she hadn't even stopped for a break.

"I was actually wondering if you could help me locate a file," Ed said plainly.

She smiled happily, looking fondly over at the large stack of books next to her desk. "Well, I got the most fascinating lot in today from a closing library. Mostly all history books. Oh, but the one I'm reading now, it's really something! It's a history of commerce and exports between the small towns around the northern borders of Amestris and how they used to interact with the small mountain villages in Drachma and -"

"Sciezka; files?"

"Oh, right, files, right. Well, what kind of files are you looking for?"

"A personnel file from a former captain who worked in this building about fourteen years ago. Do you know if you have any files dating that far back?" Sciezka thought a moment, looking around her large, paper-crammed department.

"I should," she said hesitantly as he got up, leading Ed toward the back of the room, counting shelves as she went, noting the years.. She stopped in front of one particularly large shelf covered in a decent layer of dust. It was stacked top to bottom with thick boxes of files, each labeled very specifically with dates, bases, which letters they contained, and departments. "Here we are, fourteen years ago." Sciezka giggled lightly at the stacks of boxes that filled the shelves between here and where they had been a few minutes ago. "My how the years fly! But if you know the name and where they worked, it should be in here somewhere." Ed craned his neck as he looked upward and then darted his eyes around, spotting the little step ladder for the higher shelves.

"Thanks a lot! Hopefully it's in here somewhere." Sciezka walked back to her desk, leaving Ed alone to sort through the boxes on the promise that he put everything back as it was. He scanned the boxes carefully, looking for one that belonged to this building. He sat down with the first thick box, sorting slowly. Time seemed to crawl as he checked file by file, looking for anyone named Cully. Nothing in that box, he moved onto the second, then slowly onto the third. By the fourth box, Edward was beginning to wonder if her file even existed. _She's retired_, he thought frustratedly. _These are files for people who resigned in 1900. Logically she _must_ be in here! _

His eyes lit up as he finally came to a manilla folder of interest. _**Anouk Margaret Cully, Captain**_. Ed pulled out the folder, noting how worn it seemed to be; around the spine were multiple deep creases and deep dents from rubber bands and paperclips, indicating that at one point the file had been impressively thick. Because of this it occurred to Ed as very peculiar that the file only held a two sheets of paper, neatly stapled together. Edward furrowed his eyebrows in frustration as he read the pages over; nothing more than the most basic file for any recruit. Name, age, rank, serial number, commanding officer... But where was the rest? _Everything you do while serving is thoroughly documented_, Ed thought as he reread the pages. _Every mission, every report, every assessment... Hell, I'm surprised they don't keep a running tally of how often you pee! And Anouk was serving long enough to be promoted to captain... Her resignation isn't even in here!_ Ed narrowed his eyes darkly, setting the file aside as he put the box back up on the shelf and walked back up to Sciezka's desk, knocking on it to get her attention.

Sciezka smiled up from her book. "Find what you were looking for?"

"Yes and no," Ed replied. "Do you mind if I borrow this for a little while? There's a few things I need clarification on, and I'll probably need this to go with it."

"Sure, just be sure to bring it back when you're done." Ed thanked her and left, eying the file again, frustrated that it had nothing useful at all. He paused for a moment in the hall, thinking before turning right and walking down a very long hallway in search of a very specific office to a very specific officer; Anouk's former commanding officer. Even if he didn't know about her missing file, he should know enough about her. Edward walked slowly, eying each door carefully until he stopped at a door with very large brass lettering: _**Major General Samuel Thompson, III**_. Ed glanced nervously at the file from more than a decade ago which mentioned a Colonel by the same name as her superior. _I guess a lot can change in fourteen years_, he thought as he steeled himself and knocked on the door respectfully.

"Come in," an aged voice called from inside the office. "Come on in, there's still plenty of cake, but I'm afraid you've missed the party." Ed slipped inside and saluted politely, waiting for the Major General's returning salute. He was as old as dirt, his thick white hair boasting several thin fly-away tufts around the arms of his thick glasses. The old man turned and looked at the very small blond teen and laughed airily. "At ease, son. It's my last day here, so I think it's safe to drop the formalities! Is there something you wanted, son?" Sam looked inquisitively at the boy as he waived a hand, inviting him to a chair opposite his desk.

"Major Edward Elric, Sir." Ed looked around at the streamers, colorful balloons and half-eaten cake. "If this is a bad time, Sir, I can come back."

"Nah, you're here now and in a few hours I won't be coming back. So if there's something you need, better say so while you can!" The old man smiled pleasantly and leaned back in his chair. "What's on your mind, Major?" Ed slowly produced the folder and placed it in front of the aged soldier.

"Almost fifteen years ago there was a woman who served under you by the name of Captain Cully. I'm doing a favor for her and needed her complete file, but when I went through the old records, the whole thing's pretty much gone. I was wondering, since you were her commanding officer, if you could tell me about her?" Major General Thompson opened the almost empty file, glancing over the information, his eyes darkening with memory.

"Cap'n Cully," he said quietly. "There's a name I haven't heard in years." He looked up at Ed, locking eyes with the boy carefully. "Those records are private, I'm afraid. If you don't mind my asking, what are you looking for? Last I'd heard, her bar burnt up and she left town."

"Well, that's just the thing, Sir. That's only half true. On the same night her place caught fire her son was kidnapped. She's not having any luck, so she asked me to look into things for her." The old man's eyes widened slightly with surprise. "But I need her full file to see if anything leads to it." Sam sighed, closing the folder and pushing it back to Edward.

"That's a shame about her boy, but as much as you may sympathize, I wouldn't suggest you travel down any path laid by her. That's a very dangerous road." He turned to the side, his gaze going out the window, the clouds thick and white with the promise of snow. "If you seriously wanted a list of everyone Cully pissed off while she was enlisted we could be here all day." Ed cocked his head in curiosity, recalling her expression in the painting. Sam stood and walked to the long oak buffet along the wall of his office and poured himself a small glass of scotch before sitting back down.

"You see, Major, the Captain wasn't as sweet and innocent of a woman as she may have played herself off to you. Anouk was very cunning and good at manipulation; a green-eyed wolf. Rare and beautiful but very, very dangerous. Running down her paths chasing her ghost could get you bit." Edward was quiet for a moment, chewing this advice over.

"I'll stay on the lookout then, Sir. Thank you. But can't you tell me anything? She told me that she resigned two weeks after her very last mission. Do you remember anything about that?" Sam sighed again, taking a sip.

"Anouk's final mission was a retrieval and delivery of sorts. I sent her to a small town off in the west to go box, tag and deliver certain items from there to a department here." Ed narrowed his eyes.

"You're being awfully _vague_."

"And you're being awfully _nosy_," Sam warned. "Captain Cully's missions were and are still classified, Major. Resigned or not, there's nothing in there for your eyes. She put up one hell of a fight, though." Ed blinked, caught off guard by the remark.

"Beg your pardon?"

"The day she turned in her resignation papers to me. I don't think I've yelled at any of my squad as hard as I yelled at her that day, but that woman just lashed right back, cut for cut."

"Why's that? You didn't want her to leave?"

"Of course not! Anouk had fire, passion, and had a real future lined up for herself. Nobody did the job like she did. She worked hard and rose up to Captain in no time; I was hardest on her because I knew out of everyone I commanded, she always exceeded my expectations. Right up until the end. And I don't know what happened, either. She'd done this kind of a mission before without any hangups, but this time she comes back and gives me her two weeks. A few months later I find out she's opened a shady-sounding bar at the far edge of town and has a baby." Sam made a sour face as he took another sip. "My finest and brightest gave up her whole life for... for _motherhood_." Ed shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"What's wrong with that, though? Isn't that what most women want at some point in their lives?"

"You're still young, Major, so you'll understand better when you're older. But there's a time and a place for settling down. That's after you've done what you need to do, after you've risen above everything and will be secure. Not just as your career that you've worked so hard for is just starting to come to fruition. Cully was cunning, and a little too smart for her own good. Before she retired she had made plenty of enemies and broken plenty of hearts, including mine." Sam sipped the last of his scotch and was quiet for a long moment, deep in thought, regretting the severe thrashing he gave Anouk so long ago.

"I am, however, glad to know she's still stalking around here, and can tell you that there's two other people you might want to go visit. They loved Anouk and will be thrilled to know she's still here and maybe they can help you look in on her boy's abduction." He scribbled two names and departments on a small piece of paper; First Lieutenant Robert Clark, and Lieutenant Colonel Peter Cully. Ed looked over the names and back up at Sam.

"Those two damn near hated each other, and you'd think they hated Anouk the way she fought with the both of them. But you could tell just how much they both cared about her well-being. Loved her completely. Clark's mostly an office gopher, but he's a good man. Used to be real sweet on Anouk. Cully is her older brother. He and Anouk were always extremely competitive with each other and where she was sly and cunning he was dangerously violent. Always fought like rival wolves battling for dominance." Edward pocketed the slip of paper and took Anouk's file as he stood to leave, thanking the Major General.

"And Major Elric?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"If you ever do find out about Anouk's son, I'd love to know." He handed Ed a calling card. "You've gotta be some kind of special ballsy bastard to take Anouk's son and break her heart like that. Give her my sympathies, won't you?" Ed nodded quietly, thanking Sam again, and left. The Major General sighed tiredly after the boy left, his mind heavy with memories that had long settled under the dust of time. _Why'd you do it_, he wondered, as he gazed out the window at the late afternoon sky. _Why'd you go and throw your life away like that? I told you to stay in the Military, where you're safe..._ Sam frowned and shook his head before resuming cleaning out his desk.

Ed walked slowly down the halls toward the exit, deep in thought until a paper ball came flying through the air, hitting against his head with a crackle.

"If I knew you were going to spend your whole day here I'd have found something useful for you to do!" Ed stopped to put the paper ball in the trash, giving Roy a dirty look. "What are you doing?"

"Going to go make a snowman," Ed replied with a sarcastic smile. "I'll see you later."

Several minutes later Roy looked up from his desk and stared up confusedly. What had he just heard behind him? _Tck_. There it was again. _Tck. Tck_. Roy looked behind him at the window, only to see tiny little pebbles being pelted at the pane to get his attention. Roy stood and opened the window, a cold rush of air blustering through the room. He poked his head out and looked from side to side and then down, only to be greeted by a frozen _slish_ noise, his face covered with a rather large snowball. Ed's cackling could be heard from the grounds below, Roy quickly flipping him off as he shook the snow off of his head and shut the window behind him. Havoc and Breda tried and failed miserably to contain their amused snickering and laughed even harder as another paper ball came sailing across the room for their heads.

* * *

_A/N: Hey again, everyone! Thanks for reading! Sorry about the random line in the middle of Captain Cully's conversation with Ed; FFN's been acting kind of wonky for the last few days, and no matter how many times I re-upload this chapter, the line's still there. So, everyone up for a mystery? :p I'll try to have the third chapter up as soon as possible. Until then, reviews are welcomed and most appreciated - they let me know how I'm doing and encourage me to finish the story! Next up: Edward's gotta go see some men about a wolf. 3 Later!_


	3. Locking Eyes

Ed sat at the kitchen table folding his lamb stew into the rice until it was thoroughly coated. Insanely delicious as lamb stew was, it still had milk in it; there was no denying it and explaining that cream and milk were different didn't change the facts. Somehow mixing the stew together with the rice it sat on seemed to negate its horrible ingredients until all that was left was a hot bowl of deliciousness. Al sat across the table from Ed, staring at his brother almost pleadingly, waiting for the final vote as he munched the hot goop. If only armor could make puppy eyes.

"It's a little spicy," Edward said happily as he loaded up another spoonful. "But it's really tasty. Mom would be really proud of how good you've gotten at cooking, Alphonse." Alphonse nearly danced in his seat with pride.

"Thank you! The lamb was on special, and the grocer suggested I try his recipe. The spice is an Ishvalan herb he carries." Ed nodded as his little brother chattered, telling him all about the grocer's garden of exotic herbs and spices he grows and imports from other countries. Edward agreed that the recipe was definitely good and it might be worth trying some of the grocer's other exotic recipes because of it.

Ed leaned back in his chair, letting the feeling of contented fullness warm his body. "Yeah, you'd better write all these down somewhere; when we get your body back, you need to try them! And if she stays, I'll take you to the tavern I was at last night so you can try the food there, too." Al nodded.

"Well, you said that her son only knows that street as home, so moving might upset him. Is the Captain nice?" Ed nodded.

"Yeah, and she asked me to come by again and bring you with me. The only catch was she said to wait until it's almost dark to go there." Al shifted in thought as he looked the file his brother had brought home over again.

"Doesn't that seem a little odd? Only opening after it's dark?" Ed shrugged.

"Captain Cully also apparently has a lot of enemies, so only unlocking your doors during odd hours kind of makes sense, I guess. But yeah, it is weird." He thought back to the Major General's warning about her being manipulative and dangerous. "Then again, a lot of things seem pretty weird. That old fart knew all about her but wouldn't budge on anything, so since I have a few days off for now, I'm going to ask around."

"And he pointed you to her lover and her brother?" Al shifted again and shook his head. "I don't know, brother. That just sounds like bad news, especially since the Major General told you the three of them were always fighting." Ed rose to put his bowl in the sink.

"You and I fight a lot, but we still love each other." He shrugged, washing his dishes and putting the leftovers in the icebox. "And our fights can get pretty rough. So he probably meant just lots of loud yelling and shit." Ed sat back at the table with a full glass of water and looked the file and note from Sam over once more, the back of his mind nagging him that there's still too many missing pieces. Ed sighed, closing the file.

"Hopefully at least one of them will tell me something helpful. At the moment they're the only people who might know anything, even if it's just other people to talk to." Both boys were quiet for a long minute, each lost in their own thoughts, Ed walking over to the window and looking outside. The night was creeping by as the snow came gently down in big, fluffy flakes.

"Do you really think you'll find him," Al asked at last. Ed pulled the curtains closed and walked toward the bedroom.

"I dunno. Maybe. But even if what Thompson said was true and that she'd done a lot to piss people off, there's no way anyone deserves that kind of punishment." Al thought a moment about Izumi and how she lost her baby. Even though she never really talked about it with them, they knew that somewhere in her heart she was still wounded and bleeding from that loss. That was the kind of pain that faded to a dull ache, but would never go away completely. Edward patted his flesh hand against his little brother's steel shoulder as he passed him. "But we won't know anything more until tomorrow, I guess. Night, Al."

The bedroom was dark, but Ed had memorized its layout as he stripped down to his boxers and slipped in between the sheets, hitting and pulling and shifting his pillow to try and take his head's dent out of the feathers. He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to clear his head so he could actually get to sleep rather than lay in bed all night thinking.

_The mists parted and swirled around Edward's thighs as he walked carefully through the thick forest, trying very carefully to avoid making as much noise as possible. He peered carefully around each tree, each bend, walking deeper into the the dark lush of the trees. "Al," he called quietly to cool air. "Al, where are you?" Ed tried to call out again but the thick mist seemed to swallow up his voice as he went further down the path. The path below him was thin and winding, well-hidden beneath the overgrowth but definitely well-used. The sky above him was completely gray, giving him no indication of where the sun was, and except for his slow movements the forest was perfectly silent around him. There were no birds calling, no squirrels chittering, not even the buzz of insects; all noises were hushed by the consuming gloom of the thick mist. "Al, answer me!" _

_ Edward stopped in his tracks as a loud, wet, crunching noise filled the air around him, making him feel ill. He looked to either side, his breath caught in his throat as the crunching stopped abruptly and was replaced by a low, ominous growl that seemed to circle him. Ed's body coiled itself inward, readying itself for a fight he really didn't want to engage in. The mist shifted a little more, revealing a clearing further down. He squinted his eyes, trying to make out the vague shape as he cautiously stepped closer and heard the soft, sad sound of a child crying. Ed's eyes widened with surprise as the child came into view. It was Alphonse! A nine-year-old Alphonse sat alone and crying within a crude transmutation array formed from mushrooms, sticks and stones. Ignoring the crunching and growling noises from the thicket Edward ran toward his little brother, stopping just short of the array when he looked down at his own body. Edward was now ten, and Alphonse sat inside a crude emulation of the circle they together had drawn to try and revive their mother. He held out his little fleshy arms to his younger brother. _

_ "Al," Ed called out. "Al, take my hands and we'll go home! We'll be safe once we're home!" The crying Alphonse sniffled loudly, wiping his eyes and nose on the sleeve of his long white shirt, shaking his head as he sobbed. _

_ "No," he responded mournfully. "No, they'll never let me leave! Never never!" Ed's eyes opened wide with fear._

_ "Who?! Who won't let you leave?! I'll kick their asses if they don't let you go!" Little Alphonse held up an arm, reluctantly pointing to the large shapes in the clearing fog. Wolves. A large, thickly-coated red wolf snapped and snarled as he tore chunks of flesh, sinew and bone off from a decaying human corpse, its limbs twisted hideously and the body almost seeming inside-out. An equally fluffy brown and gray wolf tugged at the remains of a leg trying to get his share of dinner, only to be barked at by the enormous gray alpha male. Ears flattened and hackles rose as the brown wolf tried desperately to assert himself to no avail. Edward turned back to Alphonse, fear beginning to set in him. _

_ "Come on, Al! They're distracted with each other! If you hurry we can run for it and lose them in the woods!" Alphonse looked nervously from side to side then began to crawl to his beloved brother, reaching up for his hand. _

_ Silently forming from the fog itself, moon-pale teeth leaped forth and wrapped around Edward's right elbow, sending crimson rivers down his flesh as a large white wolf easily pulled the small child to the ground, screaming like a wounded rabbit. Edward pushed at the wolf's neck with his left hand, trying desperately to free himself as the wolf bit down ferociously all over his right arm, from wrist to armpit, bright green eyes burning into his terrified amber ones. Bone cracked and shattered, sinew snapped and flesh tore as his right arm was horrifically ripped from his young body. Blood sprayed, decorating the snowy white coat with glistening rubies. Alphonse began to wail as Edward's screams rose above the forest. He tried to roll himself over and enter the circle with his brother as the wolf descended upon him again, settling for his meaty left leg. Edward howled out in pain as the fangs ripped through tender flesh that tried to crawl to his brother as he begged for help and mercy. _

_ Tears fell freely from his eyes. Nobody would save him. Nothing could save him. Edward looked up at Alphonse, stretching out his left hand to his brother. "Al," he begged. "Al, please, help me..." Alphonse wept as he slumped back in the center of the circle. _

_ "They'll never let me go," the child said despondently. Edward's eyes widened as Al's features melted away. Soft, peach-colored fleshy cheeks became almost snowy pale. Short tawny hair became long and the color of winter wheat, soft and curling down his shoulders. Pale silver eyes gazed emptily at Edward. "They'll never let me go. Never. Never." The array around Adrian glowed as brightly as the moon and each wolf stopped what it was doing to raise its head high, sending an eerie, haunting call to praise the night as Edward screamed._

Edward bolted upright in bed, sweating, gasping and trembling. Small, tingling rivers of pain shot from his right armpit and left thigh up through his body, causing the teen to tense and grapple himself in an effort to stave the pain. A familiar and almost comforting clanking noise echoed through the hall as Alphonse trotted into the bedroom.

"Brother," Alphonse asked worriedly as he looked at Edward clutching himself. "Brother, are you alright? What happened?"

"Nothing," Ed said through clenched teeth. "Just a nightmare, Al. Just a really freaky dream..." Ed's face contorted as he gripped his shoulder tighter. "And I think we're in for more heavy snow," he hissed. Al nodded and went to the bathroom to fetch some aspirins and a glass of water. Over the years they'd both learned that even though the limbs were gone, phantom pains would still occur and that some variables would cause the nerves in the artificial limbs to hurt. Changes in barometric pressure, unfortunately, was one of them. Ed thanked his little brother as he swallowed the tablets and leaned back against the wall, hoping they kicked in soon.

He peeked over toward the window's closed curtains and saw light coming in through the shutters. "Already morning, huh? It's gonna be a long day." Ed sighed, leaning his head back, letting the darkness and aspirin ebb some of the waves of pain. As his body relaxed he closed his eyes for a moment only to see the burning green eyes and bloodied muzzle staring almost through his soul. Ed's eyes shot open again and the image vanished though the feeling remained.

"You tossed and turned all night, brother. If you're still tired, why don't you sleep in? You have the day off."

Ed shook his head, shuddering at the thought of sleep and returning to his dreams. Usually they were empty, and his nightmares were typically the same. "Nah, I'll just catch a nap later. I'm already up, and I honestly don't think I could sleep right now if I tried." Ed threw his legs over the edge of the bed and headed for the bathroom as Al left the bedroom, back to the kitchen. Fifteen minutes later Ed appeared in the kitchen next to Al, clean and dressed but still feeling slightly creeped out as he took out some eggs for breakfast, pausing for a moment to pull his arms around the armor's wide waist in a tight hug. Even though Al couldn't feel the hug, he appreciated the sentiment.

Al stopped mid-whisk and returned the affection, wishing he had a face to smile with. "What was that for?"

"Just because."

* * *

Edward and Alphonse brushed the snow off of their shoulders as they walked up the stairs and into the Military headquarters, heading straight down the hall to the main secretarial pool. If you worked in this building, these ladies knew where it was, when and for whom; and if you were nice about it, they might even tell you. Ed strode to the main information desk and leaned against it, flashing his most coy smile at the three secretaries behind it. Alphonse waived politely, holding a small white box in the other hand.

"Good morning, ladies," Ed said charmingly. "You're all looking lovely this morning!" He flashed his smile, making the three young women blush and giggle. The well-endowed brunette with long hair rested her cheek in her hand, smiling sweetly back as the short-haired blond whispered into the ear of a girl with long strawberry-blond hair, setting them both off giggling. An older, plump woman walked out of a side office with a stack of files and paused to laugh at the scene, shaking her head. Though they were each a few short years too old to date the boy, Gina only most recently joining the ranks of being legal, flirting always made the day better.

"Greeting your adoring fans," she asked as laughed, patting Edward on the shoulder as she passed him to another office.

"No, Mrs. Parker, just stopping by to say hello to my favorite ladies." He smiled again, scoring many points. _I really need to give Colonel Bastard a thank you note_, he thought. _After all these years of working for him, some of his tricks are coming in pretty handy..._

"So," said Jenny, her overly-large breasts jiggling slightly as she spoke, "what can we do for you today, Major Elric?" Ed took the box from his brother and produced three small fruit tarts, each glistening with sweet glaze and crowned with summer fruits that everyone knew shouldn't still be available. Jenny, Gina and Miranda all sat up in their seats, eyes wide at the delicate pastries as they were placed before them.

Miranda tossed her strawberry hair over her shoulders as she took the offered tart with glee. Gina giggled, taking hers. "Don't tell me you just came to bring us sweets," Gina said with a grin. Edward made a tiny sigh.

"Well, no," he responded. "You see ladies, I've run into a little problem and I think you three may be the only ones who can help me at the moment." Three sets of ears pricked up. Gina smirked, nibbling a blueberry from her tart. "There's two gentlemen I need to speak with, but I've never met them and don't know where or who they work for. I was wondering if you could give me a little help with that?" At the flash of golden puppy eyes, three hearts melted.

"Sure!"

"No problem."

"What's the name?"

Ed took a pen off the desk, writing down the two men in question and passing it over to the girls. They each took a turn to look at the paper then went to their rolodexes, scanning the different departments of the building. Miranda was the first to stop. "Robert Clark. Works upstairs for one of Hakuro's underlings. He floats all over that wing, so if you ask, someone should be able to point him out to you." Jenny spoke up next.

"Lieutenant Colonel Peter Cully," Jenny said, writing doing his information down for Ed. "East wing of the building, third floor. Should I tell his secretary to expect you today?" Ed nodded.

"Either today or tomorrow, thank you." He pocketed the slip of paper as Gina picked up the phone to call the other secretary. Ed gave them one more great smile. "Well ladies, thank you very much for your help today."

Alphonse and Edward walked toward the end of the hall, Ed smirking to himself and Al shaking his head once they were out of sight from the secretaries. Ed looked up and raised an eyebrow. "What?" Al shook his head again with a tiny sigh.

"You really need to stop taking notes from Roy about how to interact with girls; his methods will eventually get you slapped." Ed snickered quietly, patting Al's armor.

"Eh, no worries. With those three it's harmless and they know it, and they like it when I chat " with them and bring treats. You'd think they were all denied sweets at home, as excited as they get." Al shrugged a little as they continued on their walk to the stairwell in the far corner.

"So, we visit Robert then Peter?" Ed nodded.

"Yeah, since he's closer. That, and it's too early to go annoy higher-ranking officers."

"Especially somebody else's" Both boys chuckled as they trotted up the stairs to the second floor, trying to think of what exactly to say. They weren't MP's and there was no real investigation, so really and truly nobody had to tell them anything. But it would be easier and more helpful if they did. Ed smiled politely and gave a little wave as they approached the unit secretary's desk.

"Pardon me, miss," Ed said politely. "I'm Major Edward Elric. Do you know if there's a First Lieutenant Robert Clark available?" The woman behind the desk nodded, lifting a slender arm to point at uniformed man at the end of the hall carrying a white file box. Ed glanced down at him and then back at the secretary to confirm. She nodded and resumed her typing, both brothers thanking her as they walked toward Robert. He was tall and thin, random strands of gray mixing with his messy dirty blond hair. Thin-wired glasses framed his blue eyes and the dark, sleep-deprived circles under them, giving the man a general look of tiredness that went beyond needing a few hours of sleep, as though he were tired of life itself. He scurried in and out of offices down the hall, bringing file boxes from one room and exchanging them at another, sorting through lists and memos and delivering the messages to their intended audiences. Robert Clark really was the office gopher and reminded Ed of a cringing dog who'd been hit too many times. Robert went into one of the offices and took a seat behind one small desk in the corner and sighed, taking a break. Edward and Alphonse followed him unnoticed until Ed cleared his throat.

"Beat it, kid, I've got enough to do around here; and tell your little school friends I'm not interested in buying raffle tickets, neither." Edward blinked in surprise then narrowed his at the frayed man.

"First Lieutenant Robert Clark, I presume?" Robert raised an eyebrow and nodded, wondering if the blond runt was someone's kid who was bumming school. "I'm _Major_ Ed Elric. I was wondering if I could talk to you if you had a minute." The tone of Ed's voice was just firm enough to convey that he wasn't budging, sending the man scrambling to his feet to salute at the younger and infinitely smaller Major. Ed returned the gesture and smiled, sitting in front of Robert, carefully observing the nervous wreck. Briefly their eyes met, the ferocious gold holding Robert spellbound until he looked away in surrender.

"Um, sure, yes, Sir. I can talk for a few minutes. Is there something you need?" Robert glanced up at Al then returned his eyes to Edward, wondering if he was in trouble again and hoping the huge bastard in the armor wasn't there to escort him from the building.

"I'm not here on official business, but I am looking into some things and your name came up. I was wondering what you could tell me about Captain Anouk Cully?" Robert's heart stopped beating, his breath caught in his chest as his eyes widened with surprise. "I'm sorry to intrude on your personal life like this, but I'm doing a favor for Anouk presently and need some information." Robert swallowed, trying desperately to remain calm, despite every grain of sense in his being telling him to run like hell.

"S-sure," he stammered, trying to let out a laugh and failing. "So, it's for Anouk? Really? What do you need to know?"

"Well, Major General Thompson says that you and she were an item for a long time and were put on a lot of assignments with her. I was wondering if you could tell me anything about her final mission?" Robert shifted in his seat, his hands playing with a button on his jacket underneath his desk. He didn't like where this was going at all.

"Her last mission? Um, actually if I remember right that was a solo assignment. Every now and then Thompson would send her out to take care of certain things that she wasn't at liberty to discuss with the rest of the company. He'd give her a little slip and send her out for a few days, she'd come back and report to him in private. They were both real quiet about those trips, so I dunno what went on for them. But after that last one she gave him her two weeks to take care of some baby she'd picked up. God only knows why she kept it instead of turning it in to an orphanage or something."

Alphonse looked toward the slightly sweating man. "So you knew the Captain adopted her son?" Robert looked up at Alphonse and nodded, confused by the incredibly light voice behind the helmet.

"Yeah, Adrian grew up around me," he continued, "though I wasn't too fond of the idea of playing daddy to the kid. He was a nice kid and all, but he was a little weird. Real pale features; pale skin, pale eyes, pale hair. Really quiet, too. It was kind of creepy. Anouk loved him with all her heart, though, that was for sure. Gave up her career and everything. Really pissed off Thompson and her brother for that one."

"So I've heard," Ed replied. "Why is that?" Robert rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, I can't speak for everyone, Sir, but her brother, Peter, is a real perfectionist. Really competitive with her and everyone around him, and when she quit he saw it as her giving up the game. But by then she had enough loot saved up that she'd be pretty well off and she was always smart with money. Peter didn't like Adrian either; that was one of the things we did agree on: Anouk should have given the kid up and kept going with her life, er, career." Ed and Al quickly glanced at each other from the corners of their eyes.

"So what else can you tell us? What kind of missions were you typically sent on with her?" Robert swallowed and shifted in his seat again, looking around the office for potential threats uneasily and stammering as he tried to find the right answer.

"I can't tell you," Robert said at length, his voice low. "Not here, anyway. Can you meet me after work, maybe? At the bistro down the street? We can talk there; even the walls have ears, here." Ed and Al nodded understandingly, and agreed to meet the man later that day as they were rushed out of the small office. Once gone, Robert scuttled into the nearest restroom, locking the door behind him.

Robert Clark, a man who was once much more muscular and much braver, worthy of Anouk's affections, was reduced to a cringing dog that didn't presently know if he wanted to throw up or not. He leaned over the sink, washing his face vigorously, bringing some of the drained color back to his cheeks. _He's just a kid_, Robert thought. _And how does he even know Anouk? Adrian didn't have any playmates._ His heart raced for a moment as he recalled Edward mentioning that he was doing a favor for Anouk ans sighed shakily. _But I already agreed to meet with him. ...I'm so fucked.

* * *

_

_A/N: Hello hello! Sorry for the mostly fluff chapter, but the fourth one's turning out pretty well, so hopefully everyone will enjoy reading it as much as I'm enjoying writing it! And don't worry, the mystery's thicker than what it appears :3 But you'll just have to read to find out! Oh, and a little note of apology to Elric yaoi fans: the love and affection mentioned earlier in the chapter is just sibling love, not Elricest. :p Sorry, folks 3 As always, reviews are greatly appreciated and are deserving of cookies!  
_


	4. Vicious Dogs

Edward leaned back against the wall of the corner stairwell, his hands folded behind his head. It was still early, and they weren't really in a hurry to talk to Anouk's brother if he was really as much of an asshole as everyone painted him to be. "Brother, what do you suppose Robert was so terrified of?" Ed looked up at Al, shrugging.

"Dunno, but he seemed ready to bolt like his ass was on fire. Maybe once we're out in public he'll be more easygoing." The pair walked up two more short flights of stairs before entering back into the main hall, heading to the opposite end of the building.

"Just try not to piss the Lieutenant Colonel off," Al commented as the passed the many office and conference room doors. "Family relationships are a touchy subject, and the last thing you need is getting Court Marshaled because you struck a nerve and didn't know when to stop." Ed huffed at his little brother.

"Thanks for your vote of confidence! I _do_ have more sense and tact than _that_, thank you very much. Besides, I'm not with the police, so I can only go so far before it's my ass on the line."

Al glanced down at Ed. "Come to think of it, why wasn't this handled by the police? Isn't that their job?" Ed scratched his neck below his ear. Ed's voice was very quiet for a moment as they walked on.

"Beats me. But let's be real, here. If all the crimes that went on in and because of the Military were actually reported to the police and stopped, there probably wouldn't be a Military anymore." Al reluctantly agreed, disliking the feeling that stirred inside him. The feeling had come up many times over the years, usually whenever they turned the knob and found even more corpses in the Military's closet that the general public couldn't know about. The country was founded on and fueled by secrets, and the feeling left a sour taste in honest peoples' mouths.

Edward hated that feeling too, but unfortunately knew that in order to get their bodies back they'd just have to bear with the Military and know that they play dirty. He hated it, but accepted it since it was only him who would have to contend with dirtied hands. Ed thought for a moment about the horrific things he'd seen and learned about the bad people he'd met here and the innocent people affected by them and idly wondered if, knowing all that he knew, if he would even be allowed to resign once he'd accomplished all that he wanted. The Fuhrer played dirty and he played for keeps, as did the people who worked below him and helped run the country. Would they really let him leave alive? Edward shook his head, pushing the dark feelings and thoughts to the back of his heart; now was not the time nor the place. He painted a small smile back on his face as he greeted the black-haired woman behind the desk.

"You must be Major Elric," she said, her voice warm and sweet. Terri quickly looked the young Major up and down and smiled pleasantly. He was a lot shorter than she expected and still pretty young, but she could definitely see why her younger peers at the main desk liked to flirt and tease so much. _He's going to grow up to be a real heart-breaker,_ she thought with an internal giggle. "Jenny called up here a while ago. If you'll give me a minute, I'll tell the Lieutenant Colonel that you're here." Terri left her desk to the office behind her, giving the door a quick knock as she entered briefly before returning almost immediately after. "Gentlemen, he'll see you now."

The brothers walked through the large wooden door, both saluting as they did. Peter Cully's face was incredibly stern as he returned the motion, then waived for them to take a seat. Peter was taller than Anouk, standing just a few inches past six feet. His auburn hair was trimmed short and slicked back, away from his face, his earth-brown eyes not revealing the slightest trace of tenderness and only added to the man's ferocity. Sunlight poured through the window behind him but seemed to be stifled by Peter's cold airs. Peter reached out a gloved hand to shake with Edward, slightly surprised when his very firm shake squeezed no flesh. "Major Elric," Peter stated, his voice deep and stone-firm. "It's nice to finally meet you; I've heard quite a lot about you from Colonel Mustang. Was there something you wanted to talk about? Or did you want to transfer to my department?"

Ed breathed in, swallowing any butterflies that tried to eat at his resolve. Peter Cully was most definitely an intimidating man, and certainly not one to be trifle with. "Yes, there was, actually. You see, I'm looking into an incident regarding your sister and was hoping you could help me fill in some of the blanks." Peter's face remained neutral despite that statement catching him off guard.

"My sister? Anouk?" Ed nodded. "I haven't seen my sister in about four years, Major, and she hasn't worked for the Military in almost fifteen. What could you possibly need to know regarding her?"

"Were you aware that four years ago your sister's bar caught fire?" Peter nodded slowly but sternly, his eyes not leaving Ed's for a moment.

"Yes, I remember. That was a shame; Anouk really put her heart into that tavern, which was also a shame. She kept a steady business with less than stellar citizens. But after the Stone Rose burned, she and the child she cared for vanished; I miss her, but she had a bad habit of collecting trouble. What I'd like to know is why you're curious about Anouk of all people." Ed paused a moment, trying to put the words into the right order to keep them both out of hot water.

"I met Anouk recently," Ed stated plainly. "She said that on the same night her bar caught fire, her son was kidnapped. So I'm looking into it just as a favor to her." Peter raised an eyebrow very slightly, his tone still unwaveringly firm yet calm.

"Oh, are you, now? That's very kind of you, but I doubt highly that I can offer you any assistance or that she'd want it from me. Anouk and I didn't get along very well, and after our last fight she made it unarguably clear that she never wanted to see me near her, the boy or her bar ever again." A sinking feeling began to brew in Ed's stomach as he got the distinct impression Peter didn't want to talk about Anouk or his nephew, but Ed simply wasn't ready to give up. Alphonse felt Ed's resolve being chipped away at and decided to speak up.

"Maybe so, but don't you think that under the circumstances you two could reconcile? Or at least call for a temporary truce to help find her son?" Peter shifted his gaze to the tall suit of armor, clenching his fist quietly beneath his desk, growing agitated. _Do they take me for some simpleton_, Peter wondered darkly. _Who do they think they are to mock me? What the hell are these boys playing at? _Peter looked back at Edward and narrowed his eyes a little.

"I'm afraid we are beyond reconciliation, Major. If what you say is true and Anouk has returned to Central City, she's made no effort to contact either our parents or myself; clearly she doesn't want any of us in her life, and that's probably for the best. Anouk wasn't the kind of officer you should look to for an example. Tell me boys, do you know how Anouk rose in rank so quickly and why she was renowned as the Brave Captain Cully?" Al and Ed both shook their heads, both having the feeling that they weren't going to like the answer. Peter rose from his desk and began to pace in long, slow strides near and around his desk. "'Captain Anouk Cully! Bravest of the brave and boldest of the bold!' 'Captain Cully and her men, who know no fear and never say no!' _BAH_!" Peter loosed a frustrated sigh, his gloved hands tightly clasped in the small of his back.

"Anouk and the unit she commanded were governed by Major General Sam Thompson, as I'm sure you know by now. But her squad was hand-picked by Thompson for less than savory missions. Ones that most soldiers would have enough sense to turn down, or would try to report to a higher authority. But she became quite rich from these missions she and her unit went on, seeing as how they weren't allowed to leave evidence... or _survivors_." Ed braced himself against his chair, growing very uncomfortable about what was being implied. The Lieutenant Colonel looked over his shoulder and saw the young man's uneasiness, walking back to his seat. He smiled a soft, ironic smile. "Are you starting to understand, Major? Anouk and her little rabble were essentially the Military's mercenaries and little more than pirates." Ed sat speechless as Peter continued.

"Her entire career was founded on blood and money, and as if that wasn't bad enough she had a more than improper relationship with one of the men she commanded that resumed after she abruptly resigned to care for the disfigured child she'd found and grown fond of." Peter glanced up to the boys and gave a soft sigh, his voice low and quiet. "I might have felt differently about the three of them under different circumstances. But the child wasn't her's and she owed it nothing! Although, in hindsight, I suppose I could have approached her a little more delicately about it... But if she'd just done what she was supposed to have done with it then none of this would have happened." Peter stopped himself, his breath caught momentarily in his throat. Though Edward seemed deep in thought and shock, Peter decided it best he say no more about Anouk lest he say something he regret. Edward's mind was reeling, unsure of how to interpret all of this. The heartbroken mother who was so kind to him and who wore all of her love on her sleeve sounded nothing like the ruthless killer Peter was describing!

"So you see, Major? There's nothing about Anouk that you really need to know, and if I were you I'd stop looking altogether." A small beam of sunshine fell on his desk from behind him, reflecting and glinting on a small gap between his left glove and jacket sleeve, catching Ed's eye. Peter pulled the glove back up nonchalantly. "'Brave' Captain Cully my ass; I lost my left hand in a fight for the Military while she sat back in her bar, living off of stolen money. _This_ is real bravery!" The brothers both shifted uneasily, not quite sure what to make of all of this or where to go from there.

"But, what about her missing son?" Peter looked up, locking eyes with Alphonse, suppressing a twitch. "Even if you didn't approve of her choices, surely you still care about your sister! Do you know why anyone would -" Alphonse was cut off as Peter slowly rose again from his seat, standing to his full height and somehow seeming taller than before and very, very menacing.

"Supposing I _did_ still care about her welfare, that sentiment would _not_ be extended to that... _thing_. Anouk lived a shady, improper life filled with shady, improper relationships and ran a bar whose customers were all just as unscrupulous as she. The last time we spoke, we fought about what was best for them both. Our fight turned violent, and in the end she declared that I was to never go near them again, and I haven't. For all I know or care, that whelp could have been stolen by one of her seedy customers and have been sold to the circus! Now, if you'll excuse me, _Major_, I have some work to attend to." Edward rose from his seat, briefly saluting before heading toward the door. Peter took a deep, silent breath, regaining his composure and quelling his bubbling anger.

"Major, before you leave?" Ed paused, he and his brother both glancing over their shoulders back at Peter, who had resumed sitting, looking as dark and still as a panther in the woods. "One last question, just out of curiosity. You say you've met Anouk recently. Did she say when she came back to Central City?" Ed didn't really want to talk to the man anymore as his distaste for Peter grew.

"As far as I know, she never left." Ed shut the door behind him, giving a brief wave to Terri as he and Alphonse walked in silence back down the long hall and away from the offices. Peter sat stone still in his desk, teeth clenched., seething in his anger as he chewed on his lower lip. _Anouk is still here, _he thought_, and now she is hunting. This is most unexpected news... But why now? Why wait all this time to resurface?_ Peter leaned back in his chair with his arms folded over his desk, deep in thought. _All the same, well done, dear sister. You've managed to stay hidden for all this time, and now you've caught for yourself two most willing pawns.... Well done, indeed.

* * *

_

Both Alphonse and Edward were very quiet as they sat in an unused conference room on the second floor of the west wing, alone and far away from everyone. Al had been right; family matters are a touchy subject to most people, but neither had been prepared for such cold hostility. Perhaps they'd just gotten too used to their own closeness that comes of only having each other for so long that made most family relationships seem empty and distant by comparison. Edward sighed and slumped forward over the table, arms folded beneath his chin. He didn't know what he was expecting from the people he'd met thus far, but he was pretty sure the reactions and responses he was getting weren't it.

"It's all very strange, isn't it, brother?" Ed nodded, not moving from his spot. "You'd think that at least one of them would be more concerned about their friend and her son than their grudges against each other." Edward raised himself and pulled the photo Anouk had given him out, looking them both over again.

"I admit Adrian would have a hard time blending in with a crowd, but he doesn't look _that_ different. Certainly doesn't deserve to be called a "thing" like that." Ed shook his head softly, putting the photo back into his pocket, recalling that Anouk mentioned Peter's feelings toward the boy. "Just because he looks different doesn't mean he isn't still a person. And Thompson said that they both would be glad to hear that Anouk was here and okay."

"And instead they both seemed very surprised that you met her, and Peter just seemed angry about it. So far, everyone agrees that after her restaurant caught fire that she left town, but you said she never left?" Edward nodded again, his eyes distant and deep with thought. What the hell happened that everyone's afraid to talk about? Yes, the work Peter had described would certainly be something the Military wouldn't want to make publicly known, and if that's the sort of thing that Anouk was in charge of he could see why Thompson didn't want to discuss it. But there was something else, too. Some missing piece of information that he wasn't privy to. Edward narrowed his eyes, sighing as he stood up.

"I don't get it either," he said, reaching for the doorknob. "But the good news is that Robert said he'd talk to us in a few hours, so maybe he'll open up and be willing to help."

* * *

The hours seemed to crawl by for Robert Clark, his work dragging on as though he were trudging waist-deep in mud. He was sluggish and distracted, his mind far from his menial tasks and his heart far, far from easy. Robert sighed shakily, putting the last of a stack of signed files away for one of his bosses and walked back to his desk, popping his elbows against the wood and burying his face in his palms. _What am I going to do_, he thought. _I've done so well to keep myself together, and now here comes this Major, undoing all my hard work! He knows... he must know! But then why is he being so calm about it? Why hasn't he gone to the police?_ Robert's face shot out of his hands, his eyes wide. The police... _If that kid does go to the police, I'll be arrested... What if I'm sentenced to execution?! _

Robert licked his lips nervously, trying to slow his rapidly increasing heartbeat. He was being paranoid and silly; the boy didn't know anything. How could he? Robert slowly calmed himself and pulled open the bottom drawer of his desk, removing a small wooden box. The box was smaller than the length of his hand, made of polished ebony with an inlay of mahogany and rosewood, showcasing a broad rose and delicate scroll work. Robert idly traced his fingers along the edges of the rose before lifting the small lid upward, allowing the delicate tinkling music to escape and fill his mind. Fingers deftly slipped into and out of the box, briefly holding the emerald ring aloft before putting it and the music box down, his face returning to his palm. His eyes shut tightly. _This used to be the nightly ritual_, he thought. _Crying, missing you, hating you... Over time I've tried to miss you less and less, but now?_

The music box chimed on, the haunting brass melody of _Ashes of Roses_ drowning out the man's quiet sobs.

* * *

_A/N: Hello all you happy people! One more chapter up, one more set of motives put on the table. I really hope everyone likes where the story's going and would love to hear what everyone thinks either in a review or in a PM :3  
_


	5. Omega

_A/N: Okay, people! Chapter warning time! This round's a lot darker than my last few have been and it's only going to get progressively more messed up from here. This chapter earns the M rating, depicting the carnage of war, drunkenness, a fair amount of swearing, and just being really twisted and disturbing. It's nothing too graphic, but it is more than some people I know can handle and I said, the story's just going to get darker and bloodier as we go. So if you don't like freaky imagery and psychological torture, turn back now. Everyone else ready to go traipsing through the corpses? Good! Have fun, kids. By the way, for those not in the know, "spirit of salt" is an alchemical term for hydrochloric acid I got out of a 15th century English alchemy textbook.  


* * *

_

First Lieutenant Robert Clark sat anxiously at a booth along the back wall of the Hogan Brothers Pub, grateful that it was a crowded that afternoon; the cheerful buzz of the patrons would make it very difficult for potential eavesdroppers. The pub was full, people excitedly talking, celebrating groups boisterously cheering over them, and the walls decorated randomly with paintings and photos from local artists. Ordinarily the cheery and cozy setting would have calmed the man. He licked his lips as he looked from side to side for Major Elric and that very large man in the can. For a moment he had the faintest glimmer of hope that the boy had changed his mind about the whole affair, but that hope faded as he saw Ed walk away from the pub's counter with a tall, fizzy soda in one hand and a lager in the other, and gave Ed a little wave. Robert felt his stomach sink a little as Ed and Al planted themselves in the opposite seat. He glanced down at the pale golden drink in front of Ed, watching the bubbles dance upward as Ed slid the lager in front of Robert. Robert accepted the offered drink with a nervous laugh.

"Bribing me, Major?" Ed smiled as he relaxed into his seat, giving Robert a small shrug.

"Seemed fair to me. It's not much, but at least it's something for something." He smiled broadly, thanking the approaching waitress as she delivered a sandwich on top of a heaping mound of chips. Robert took a sip from his lager, hoping the alcohol would calm his nerves and noted that he couldn't eat right now if he wanted to. He took a deep breath, preparing himself.

"So, what do you want to know about? Anything specific?"

"Whatever you think might be useful," Alphonse stated quietly. "Though her brother did tell us a little bit about your unit's general purpose." Robert cocked an eye smiling wryly at the brothers.

"You seriously brought all that up with Peter? And came out with your skin?" Robert laughed airily, taking another drink. "That's impressive. Watch out for him, though. He's not the forgiving type, and he's got more than a few cards missing from his deck."

"So we noticed," Ed said, chomping at his sandwich. "But yes, Mr. Clark, if you could just tell us anything that might be useful, even if you don't think so. At this point we don't have a lot to go on and all the information we do have doesn't lead up to anything." Robert leaned back, thinking.

"You guys gotta keep this private, okay? The public wouldn't benefit knowing about the Military's dirty laundry." Ed and Al both nodded, agreeing to the therms. "You said Peter told you a little bit about what we did, but even he only knew so much; being the kind of upstanding prick that he is, he was too good to join under Thompson. What we were was... complicated. If everyone enlisted is a "Dog of the Military," then groups like ours are the "Wolves of the Military." We were one of the groups you don't see and don't hear about. You follow me?" Ed half nodded, intrigued but still perplexed. He'd heard of special units, but they weren't usually kept secret within the military's own ranks. Robert honestly hoped that little bit would be enough to satisfy Edward, but resigned, seeing Ed wanted more information and continued.

"Sometimes we'd get assigned to spy on certain people who had a mind to overthrow the government and act later. Sometimes we would be sent out to capture enemy envoys and interrogate them for very specific things. Sometimes people just vanished. We weren't just one thing; we were whatever Amestris needed us to be that they couldn't say out loud. Some people got it in their heads that squads like ours are the reason that wars happen, but honestly we're the reason wars _don't_ happen. But some people wouldn't comprehend that no matter how you try to justify it; Peter Cully's one of them people. He thinks all things in life are black and white and that using death squads like ours is dirty pool.

"Thompson picked Anouk out of all the people he commanded for our little group specifically because he saw potential. That's the only reason he picked anyone; potential to be more than what was asked of you and the guts to be able to handle doing the country's dirty work. He found out just how good she was and she quickly became his lead dog. We were all good, but she had other sets of skills that were very useful to him. Anyone can catch an enemy soldier and torture him until he talks, but she had a talent for playing people, getting into their heads... She'd charm them and they'd just open up and tell her anything she wanted to know. Somewhere along the line, Peter caught wind of her methodology and I guess that's when he started going sour. In retrospect, I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised she kept saying no..." Ed popped another chip, listening intently.

"Saying no," Al asked. "Saying no to what?" Robert gazed into his lager briefly.

"Me. Time and time again I asked her to marry me, but she always said no. When Thompson first put her in our group, she and I were the same rank, and since it didn't affect her work or performance, the boss was willing to turn a blind eye. Hell, Thompson even kept reminding me not to get too attached to her, but I couldn't help it. I was young and horny, and a sucker for a pretty face. But one mission we were sent to investigate an alchemist who was making gold to pay for an army. We found him and his gold easy enough, but he put up one hell of a fight. In the end Anouk managed to save us from being turned into paperweights and took him out. After we dissolved the man's body, Thompson said that having the gold in circulation would lead to problems, so it needed to vanish, too, so we divvied the leftovers." Edward paused his eating, slightly uncomfortable now that he understood what Peter had meant about their unit getting rich and not leaving survivors. He knew better, but part of him hoped that mission wasn't any indicator for business as usual.

"Wait," Al said quietly. "You _dissolved_ him?" Robert nodded grimly.

"Spirit of salt," Robert replied. "That stuff's vicious, but it does the trick. None of us were alchemists, but we weren't _stupid_. He was the kind of guy that, if we had left a body, it would have caused a lot of problems and a lot of questions. Burying him or dropping him in a lake still left the chance he'd be found, and we'd be back at that whole problems thing. Same went for his gold; there was a lot of it, and just depositing all of it at once would have screwed up the economy and caused problems and questions. See? We did the things that needed to be done that nobody else wanted to do." He raised his glass up and gave it a little wave, signaling for the waitress to refill it.

"But yeah, after that mission, everything changed. She got promoted to Captain, for one, and once she outranked me the Military's laws dictated that we couldn't see each other anymore and Thompson had to put his foot down on it. That's when he started sending her on those solo trips, too, and she never would tell me what they were for. Guess I'll never know, now." Robert nodded his thanks to the waitress and took another sip. "I wasn't happy about any of it, but you can only do so much before it's your ass, so I just had to deal. But after a while she came back to me, but not to date me; she insisted that it was "unconditional, strings-free, relationship-free sex." Most guys wouldn't care, but me? I'm weird, I guess. Keeping her hands untied meant she was free to fool around with other men and bilk them our of money and information. It went like that until her last solo trip, and then she suddenly resigned. She just came back from it, looking tired and upset, screaming at Thompson that she had to draw the line there and couldn't do that anymore and live with herself."

Ed leaned in against the table. "And you're sure you don't know what the mission was? Nothing about it at all?" Robert shook his head.

"I know as much as anyone else does about them. Just something about that last one set her over the edge, she had words with the boss and quit. Then a few weeks later she's opened a bar at the far end of town and has an extra mouth to feed that wasn't there before. After that we started dating again and there was a pattern going to it; every time I'd try to talk her into being serious with me and making us official, she'd get mad, back out, and not talk to me for a few weeks. That was usually the hot topic with us; I was mad that she wouldn't marry me, Peter was mad that we weren't married, and Anouk was mad at me for "breaking the rules" and mad at Peter for trying to make her life fit into the narrow little mold he thought was best for her. But she wasn't the type for settling down or going off of cue cards; she liked her freedom way too much." Robert's eyes looked hazy and clouded either with emotion or drink, once again reminding Ed of a very tired and defeated dog. _You must be the omega wolf_, Edward thought, finishing the last of his meal.

"So what about the night Adrian was abducted," Edward asked casually, his voice smooth. "Where were you?" Paying attention to Roy all of these years had apparently taught Ed more lessons than he'd counted on, pushing away a tiny pang of guilt for laying traps like that.

"I was at home," Robert replied distantly as he took another drink. "We'd had a huge fight earlier that day; worst one ever. So I said goodbye and that I never wanted to see her again... Guess I got my wish, huh?" Robert shut his eyes tightly, angry words echoing in his mind as he finished off the last of his drink and pushed the glass away. He sighed as he rose to his feet and grabbed his coat off the back of the booth. "Do me a favor, Major? Tell Anouk I'm sorry. For everything." Edward nodded and shook Robert's hand before reaching into his pocket for a pen. Hastily Edward scribbled his phone number onto a napkin and handed it to Robert.

"Thank you, Mr. Clark. If you remember anything else or just need to talk, give me a call." Robert smiled faintly and turned, quietly walking out the door of the pub into the bleakness of the snowy evening. Ed watched as he left and then once out of sight, he moved over to take the now vacant seat and leaned in to talk to Al.

"That didn't help much," said Alphonse.

"Sure it did," Ed replied quietly, his golden eyes burning as the wheels turned in his head. "It may not have been the exact information we were looking for, but Clark told me more than he thinks he did." Alphonse was quiet, putting pieces together in his head before drawing back, wishing he could give his brother the dirty look that the helmet couldn't convey.

"That was a dirty trick," Alphonse said, his tone warning.

* * *

Night settled in over Central City, quietly blanketing the area with snow like a mother hushing her children to sleep. Despite the gentle peace outside, there was none to be had inside of Robert's apartment as he paced around the room, his eyes hollow and haunted as though he were looking for things that weren't there anymore. Sullenly, he retrieved a small bottle of bourbon and a glass from a cabinet in the china hutch along the wall, pausing only long enough to shove the scattered papers and laundry off of the overstuffed chair before slumping into it. He shakily poured himself a drink, looking around the hovel that he lived in. It wasn't always this messy, papers, newspapers, clothing and random trash strewn about and covering his home corner to corner. There was a time when it had actually been fairly clean, but that time was long gone; he was alone and would always be alone, and had stopped caring about those kinds of details.

Robert rubbed a hand over his face, his eyes red and blotchy, his hair disheveled. He nervously looked at the telephone, feeling ill as he picked up the receiver, dreading the call that had to be made. _I don't want him to get hurt_, Robert thought, his fingers slowly turning the numbers on the rotary. _Elric seems like a pretty nice kid! But if he keeps snooping, we're all screwed..._ The line clicked as someone picked up the other end. "Hey," Robert said carefully, his eyes locked on his bourbon. "I-it's me. Robert Clark. I know you said not to call you, but I-"

"Then why," the voice on the other line growled, "are you calling?"

"It's Anouk," Robert blurted. "There's some kid at the office going around, asking a lot of questions. Major Elric knows!"

"That isn't possible and you know it, you sot! The boy's obviously bluffing and doesn't know anything; hence him asking questions. And that will continue to be true... unless you've _told_ him something." The blood drained from Robert's face and he took another shot for courage.

"Yeah, I talked to him. But I didn't tell him anything important! Just about our relationship and a little about what our unit did. No big details, though!" The man on the other line growled in frustration.

"It wouldn't be wise to underestimate Major Elric; he's no man's fool and even tiny details can become very big ones. Now, _think_ – did you tell him anything that he can use to connect the dots?" The man's tone was menacing as it forced Robert to sort through his hazy mind, recalling their little chat at the pub. No, no, nothing useful, and he'd told him he was at home when Adrian was...

Robert's eyes shot wide open in fear with the realization that he'd been had. When Edward had come to his office earlier that day, neither of them had mentioned the bar fire or Adrian's abduction. His breath caught in his throat as his hand covered his mouth.

"Well?" Robert felt like throwing up.

"I, erm, I might have, maybe, I dunno, kind of... _slipped_? But it wasn't my fault! He gives you the same look Anouk used to! You know, the one that makes you surrender and do what they want!" The man on the other line growled loudly, his anger rising.

"You're a fucking idiot! No wonder you were demoted and keep getting passed up for rank! Some kid gives you "the look" and you roll over and tell him everything! What else might you have "slipped" to him?! Why not write down names and addresses while you're at it!" Robert cringed into his chair, wincing as the man yelled. He poured another drink, hoping it would steady his nerves.

"No! No, it wasn't like that! And besides, Tucker's dead and I didn't mention Dr. Warren, so he won't find anything out if he wanted to!" There was a long pause as Robert thought about what Anouk would do once she came out of the woodwork to take her revenge. "What about Anouk?"

"What _about_ her," the man snapped.

"Well, shouldn't we, you know, do something? She's here, in the city, and she's going to come after us!"

"Your idiocy really does astound me, you know that? I told you that was impossible and he's bluffing, trying to catch you in a lie. The chances of it being true are slim to none! In either event, though, Elric presents a problem... I'll see what I can do to stop him before he goes too deep." Robert swallowed hard, trying to muster the broken remains of his courage.

"I.... I want to come clean. About all of it. Even if it's just to Elric and let him do the rest on his own. I can't live with the guilt anymore!"

"You're a fucking coward," the man snarled. "But if you take that course of action, I assure you that you won't have to live with the guilt, or _anything_, ever again." There was a click and the line went dead, leaving Robert in a trembling, sweat-drenched, panicked stupor. He rubbed a hand over his face, doing little to remove any of the sweat from his cheeks and forehead as he drained his glass and filled it once more.

_It doesn't really matter, then, what I do_, Robert thought desperately. _I'm surrounded and outnumbered, and if one of them doesn't get me then the other will!_ He slumped in his seat, staring blankly into his drink as the reflections of light distorted, making odd shapes and images. Robert squinted his eyes at it, trying to see the picture and gasped as it became more clear. In the reflection of his drink, he saw Ishval. He could see the sand-colored buildings and the sand-colored coats on his fellow dogs, and he could see the lakes of blood seeping into the sand as they emptied from their murdered bodies. Robert sat, watching horrified, as the sand rose up in a wall on one side of his glass and was filled with innocent people, piling up by the dozens. He peered further. Bodies littered the streets. Bodies lay still, dead in their homes. Women and girls screamed for mercy from the lecherous soldiers who grasped and pulled before they silenced them. Mothers screamed over the bodies of their children before they were silenced. Husbands screamed over the bodies of their wives before they were silenced. The screams rose up from the depths of the bourbon and threatened to deafen Robert. He gulped down the drink desperately and sighed as the quiet resumed.

Robert smiled drunkenly, waving his bottle in the air triumphantly. "See? In the end, I'll still be victorious!" There was no response but the nothingness of his empty, messy apartment. "You're all just ghosts! Jus' bad memories. And the dead never come back! They sink down... down into the darkness and turn to dust..." He poured and drank another glass, and then another, finishing off the bottle. He gave it a little shake and frowned deeply, as though the bottle's emptiness hurt his feelings. Unsteadily, Robert stood and staggered back to the china hutch to find a second that he was sure he had and bent down, reaching his hand in and clumsily groping the cupboard. "Now where is that bottle?

"To the left," a voice casually replied.

"Oh, s'ank you. That was very helpful." Robert smiled broadly as his hand found the bottle and pulled it out. Slowly he stood, his eyes first concentrating on his liquor and then staring at the reflections in the hutch's glass doors. His eyes opened wide in horror as they locked onto the intense green eyes in the glass. Robert's mouth hung wide open as he stood immobile, held captive by the threatening gaze of Anouk. Four years and she looked exactly the same as she did the last night he saw her.

"You," Robert stammered, pointing at the reflection. "You can't be here! You aren't real and you can't be here! He said so!" Anouk's deep rouge lips curved into a sadistic, vicious smile that dripped with unadulterated contempt.

"Oh, don't say such things," Anouk purred. "I'm real, my love. I'm as real as the air you breathe to scream." Robert whipped around to strike her in defense, instinct finally kicking in. He staggered and leaned against the china hutch, almost losing his balance as his arm sliced only through air.

"Anouk! Anouk, where are you?! Show yourself!" Anger, fear, disdain, and sorrow all muddled together as Robert stumbled around his apartment, looking for the apparition he'd been threatened by only moments ago. The apartment was again, and as it had been for years, empty. Slowly and cautiously Robert made his way to his bedroom, bourbon bottle in hand. Robert screamed as he opened the door to his bedroom only to see Anouk standing before him with a small league of Ishvalans behind her. Robert cowered before the ghastly images, looking and remember each of their faces.

"I'm right here, my love. And so is everyone else you ever hurt." Robert's eyes fell to their faces, terror washing over him. A teenage girl stood near to Anouk's left, a massive wound taking up the side of her head, congealed blood covering most of her face and neck. An old man with trembling hands stood at Anouk's right, trying cover a hole that went straight through his middle. A weeping mother stood at his side, her jaw broken and her face and fingers horrible mangled. Robert's heart thundered in his ears as every innocent face stared through his soul. Anouk's eyes burned with icy flames, her legs making effortless, cat-like strides toward Robert, who backed away slowly toward the safety of his chair

"And I just wanted to drop by for a visit, you know, since we were such _good friends_ and all. Because that's what friends do. They _visit_. They _talk_ to each other. They _help_ each other! You know, friendly shit like that." Anouk's tone was menacing as Robert crawled into his chair. Anouk grasped the arms of the chair and bent over her former lover, her eyes burning through him with an eternal fury and trapping him in place.

"I tried to warn you," Robert whimpered. "I told you to run away! You didn't listen!"

"You didn't say jack shit! If you had really wanted to warn me, you would have, you coward! But that's all in the past now, isn't it? So there's just one thing I want to know. One teeny, tiny thing." Tears ran down Roberts face as he cringed and simpered, terrified for his life. Cautiously he looked up at her face, Anouk's eyes grasping his. She narrowed her green eyes dangerously, auburn curls hanging over her shoulders and arms. She spoke slowly, her voice just above a growl. "..._Where is my son?_" Robert shook his head rapidly, unable to escape the woman.

"I don't know," he sobbed. "I don't know! He could still be alive, he could be dead, he could be anywhere! I don't know, I don't know, _I don't know_!"

The empty bourbon bottle slid from Robert's limp hand that lay over the side of the chair and hit the floor with a dull clunk, a few missed droplets puddling onto the floor beneath it. The night air was still as the snow came gently down outside, and the messy apartment was quiet save for the ragged breathing and occasional whimpers and cries from the remains of the drunken soldier who lived there.


	6. Freedom

_A/N: Still with me? My you people are wonderful! This is a fair warning to all readers - this chapter can be seen as pretty disturbing to some. It deals with drunkenness, hallucinations, madness, and death. Specifically suicide. I know these are all things that some people don't do well to read, due to religious beliefs, personal feelings, or past experiences. Trust me, I have had to deal with these issues (and more) on more than one occasion, and I know that sometimes having them come up in stories or TV can make you less than easy. So, if these are things that upset you, I'd advise against this chapter. Alright then, everybody ready? Let's go!

* * *

_

The day was cold, clear and bright when Edward walked up the stairs back to main headquarters and down to the records department, the worn manilla file tucked securely under his arm. Since there wasn't anything in it and nobody seemed to be willing to share, he figured he may as well give the two sad little sheets of paper back to Sciezka like he promised he would. The records room was quiet, as always, and had that comforting smell of old paper that he had grown fond of over the years; he could see why Sciezka loved it so much. If he didn't already have his hands full with everything else, working in a library might be a really nice change of pace. As Edward walked back out, he pondered briefly about looking up Major General Thompson's file just to see if it had anything useful but changed his mind; Anouk's file was under lock and key somewhere, so odds were, so were Sam's.

Edward strolled down the hallway quietly, not quite sure where to go from there. He knew that Robert was involved in this mess somehow, but he didn't know what to do with that bit of knowledge. There were still far too many variables, and his meeting with Peter yesterday had left him with an uneasy feeling. Lost in his thoughts, Ed didn't notice Roy calling him from within the office until he'd done so for a third time. Ed looked up, entering the office with his hands in his pockets. He didn't really have anywhere to be, but had been planning on meeting Al at the library after he'd finished returning the file.

"You're pretty spacey today, Chief," Havoc said as Ed walked past. "What's up?"

"Eh, just thinking too much," Ed replied.

"Oh, is that what we smell burning!" The office burst into a round of warm laughter, drowning out Ed's comments. Roy sat behind his desk with his cheek in his hand and a quiet half-smile on his face.

"Fullmetal," he said. "Today something found its way to my desk with your name on it. Maybe you could tell me why?" Ed raised an eyebrow, taking a seat across from Roy, slightly confused. He had already turned in his report, and he didn't have any other paperwork due that he knew of. Roy held up a sheet of paper about the size of a telegram and handed it to Edward.

"A runner dropped this off for me this morning. It's a request that you cease your investigation and stop being a nuisance to the people you think are involved." Ed read the note over, and it definitely was what Roy said it was. It was typed, but had no header, no office or department number, no seal to signify anyone, and no signature. "Care to let me in on what this is about, Fullmetal? Because while I will agree that you can be a pest, I don't recall assigning you to anything." Edward reached into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out the photo, handing it to Roy along with the anonymous note. Roy looked the woman in the photo over and smirked.

"Never knew you were into cougars, Ed! Not bad at all." Ed narrowed his eyes at Roy. Why did he always have to be such a complete goof?

"I'm not "into" anything, thanks. See the little boy she's got in her lap? He was kidnapped by Military personnel and she asked for my help. That's what I'm investigating." Roy raised an eyebrow, folding his hands in front of his mouth after sliding the picture back to Ed.

"So you're knocking from door to door looking for him?"

"No, just the people who were closest to her that may be involved, and honestly I think I'm onto something with it. One of them said his last encounter with her ended violently, and the other inadvertently told me that he was involved in the abduction. I just don't have all the answers yet." Roy glanced at the photo and the note again in thought.

"You're sure they're involved?"

"Pretty sure they had something to do with it, even if they weren't behind it completely. There's more to this than either of them are willing to say." Roy picked up the note and folded it in half, slipping it into a drawer.

"Well, since the note is anonymous then technically it isn't an official request. I'll let you go on with your project on the condition that you make a full report of it afterward and we'll make this an official in-house assignment. Just try not to overstep your bounds, okay? I'll have a very hard time explaining that you're on assignment based on a hunch, so be careful." Ed nodded, rising from his seat and waving as he left the room. Though not entirely certain, he already had a pretty good idea who the note came from. He walked out the building and down the street, arms folded over his chest, walking on auto-pilot until he reached the library. He gave a quick wave to the gargoyle-faced librarian as he walked in, looking for his brother slowly between each aisle.

Slowly Edward walked through the reference and periodical sections, not hearing or seeing Al in any of them. Fiction and nonfiction were both devoid of life as well, and he began to wonder if Al was even here or not until he spotted the massive suit of armor sitting at a long wooden table piled high with gigantic scrapbooks filled cover to cover with newspapers. Ed pulled out a chair diagonal to his brother and pulled a scrapbook to him, looking it over carefully.

"So these are outdated newspapers?" Al nodded, skimming through the paper's articles carefully.

"Sometimes when accidents happen the reporters will have important details that they don't know are important," Al replied. "So these are all the newspapers from that month and some of the following months. I thought maybe there might be some mention from friends or neighbors – you'd think someone would have seen something." Ed agreed as he began to go over the broad pages slowly, twiddling a pencil in his fingers. The minutes passed and the scrapbooks transferred from one pile to the other, surrendering very little useful information to the boys. They had the date and time, and a list of businesses on that street that were affected, but all interviews with residents had similar statements; it was about midnight and most people were asleep or just didn't see anything. Ed shoved the latest scrapbook aside, sighing agitatedly.

"You'd think that nobody cared that the whole neighborhood on Gerard Street burned down. It's like the fire happened and all the shops just accepted it, moved their businesses and never looked back!"

"That's because that's about right," Al replied, sharing in his brother's disappointment. "Unfortunately in crowded cities like this, older houses are more prone to setting fire to the connected houses. I guess people accept it because it's happened before and that's all you really can do. According to everything we've found, most of the businesses either reopened within city limits or moved to a different city altogether. " Ed sighed again, adding another book to the finished pile and opening another.

"If that's the case, I doubt we're going to find anything in these papers that will help us more than they have. But you know what's strange? Neighbors and other business owners were interviewed, and none of them saw anything. But there aren't any with Anouk at all. They mention the Stone Rose and that it burnt pretty thoroughly on the inside but left the masonry, but none of these articles talk to Anouk once." Al reached for his notepad and quickly skimmed through the notes he'd been taking over the last several hours.

"You're right, there aren't. If Adrian was kidnapped before the fire was started, you'd think that she'd have talked to the reporters to tell them those details." Al paused for a long moment, glancing back over his notes and at the paper in front of him before looking back up at Ed. "Brother, I don't like this. There's something very wrong with this picture." Edward bit his lower lip, a very uneasy feeling knotting his stomach as Thompson's warning echoed through his head again. Slowly he closed the book in front of it and crossed his arms over his chest. The answers were there, he knew, but there were still too many people withholding information from him. The discontented feeling stewed inside of him, threatening to thoroughly foul Ed's mood for the remainder of the night.

"I don't like it either, Al. I don't like being played and I don't like being kept in the dark. And so far I think the only way to get some of the answers we need will be to Anouk's and talk to her."

"Tomorrow night, then?" Ed nodded.

"We'll just have to go carefully and make sure nobody is following us."

* * *

The day had been unsuccessful, and as the temperature dropped Ed felt his joints locking and grinding, sending the boy's mood steadily downhill. There was too much to do and too much to ask, but the lack of answers only made his head hurt more. The only logical thing he could think of was to take a few aspirins and sleep on it, quickly sending Edward into a mercifully dreamless sleep and leaving Alphonse alone in the quiet peace. The house was clean, and the snow was steadily piling up outside. Despite his brother's less-than-pleasant mood, he was glad that Ed had opted to sleep it off rather that sit there, awake and sulking. Al sat on the sofa and opened the most recent printing of his favorite periodical: _Die weissen Blätter. _Though the articles on pacifism and artistic expressionism were what made him start buying the paper, Al loved the printed serial stories best of all and he had been waiting quite patiently for the latest chapter of _Der Golem_.

Time crept by faster than it ought to have, Alphonse pouring over every essay, every photograph, savoring each page. The narrator was just describing his intentions to go out for lunch when the telephone suddenly rand, making Alphonse yelp in surprise. He put down his paper, quickly glancing at the wall clock – it was well after midnight. Who in the world would be calling at this hour? Al trotted to the small table in the hall and picked up the receiver.

"Elric residence," Alphonse stated politely.

"_Is Major Elward in_," the man on the other line slurred, sounding more than a little inebriated.

"You mean Edward? He's asleep, sir. This is his brother Alphonse... who's this, please?"

"_It's... Robbie. Robbie Clark_." Alphonse listened carefully to Robert's labored breathing, concerned and confused as he heard the older man sniffle loudly.

"Oh, Mr. Clark, hello. Um... Are you alright?" More distorted sobbing noises came from the other line before Robert said anything else.

"_Me? Oh, yeah, I'm, um.... I'm not really that fine, no. Could you get your brother? I really need to talk to him. Could be th'last chance I get._" Al straightened in surprise, not quite sure how to interpret that reply and looked nervously at the bedroom door. There were two distinct, heavy thumps followed by more unevenly patterned thumping until the door groaned as it opened, revealing a half-sleeping Edward in the frame. Ed stood there in his boxers, yawning and scratching his long, messy hair as he stared blankly at his little brother

"Thought I heard the phone ring," Ed said sleepily, wobbling forward. "At first I thought my alarm was going off." Al held his hand over the receiver of the telephone, leaning his head down.

"It's Mr. Robert Clark," Al whispered hurriedly. "He sounds totally plastered, but he said it's urgent that he talk to you; said it might be the last chance he has." Ed cracked his neck quickly, forcing himself to wake up a little more as he took the phone from his brother, who quickly grabbed a notepad and pencil for him.

"Edward here. You needed me, Mr. Clark?"

"_M'sorry_," Robert sniffled, "_but I just couldn't keep it to m'self anymore. I can't take it! It's killing me, Major. It's like a disease, eating me alive! I had to tell someone..._" Ed's raised an eyebrow high, the drunken lieutenant's sobbing babble giving him the creeps. Robert sat in his chair at home, glass in hand, cowering and sobbing. He was surrounded by angry, bleeding memories. Ishvalans. Other soldiers. Scientists. People whom he became friends with just so he could extract information from before killing them personally. Tonight they were all in his house and they would let him have no peace.

"It's fine, Robert, just tell me what's going on. Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"_I didn't mean to. I just didn't know that's what was going to happen! But it all happened because of me, didn't it? Because I was stupid and angry and just couldn't be a bigger man than that asshole... But I stole the file, Ed. I stole it from Anouk an' showed it to Peter. He took it from me an' talked t'Shane. Or Chow. Or Shawl. Or... something._" Ed's breath caught, a name he'd rather have forgotten angrily flashing through his head: Shou.

"_But he got greedy,_" Robert continued, pausing long enough to pour a fresh drink. "_He wanted more than jus' the file; he wanted the experiment, too! Said he'd make a fortune. But then Dr. Warren shows up and threatens all of us! All of us, blackmailed! Jus' like that. Said he'd expose Chow as a fraud if he published, incriminate Pete for withholding evidence, and have Anouk arrested._" He took another loud sip, guaranteeing that he'd surely trip over even more of his words. "_Said the thing belonged to him in the first place an' Anouk stole military property..._" Robert looked up through the throng of people at the angry man staring at him, hate dripping from his eyes. Robert took another casual sip, his eyes red and puffy from crying nonstop since last night and glanced down at the black revolver in his lap.

"Hello, angry phantom," Robert said, holding out the words as he spoke. He lifted his hand, gesturing at the roomful of angry, invisible people. "Come to join the party? I've never dreamed you before." Infuriated, Peter said nothing, only glowering downward.

Edward stood in his hall, completely dumbfounded. Who the hell was Robert talking to? "Robert? Are you still there? Are you okay?"

"_I will be now_," Robert replied softly, a fresh crop of tears welling in his eyes and running down his blotchy cheeks. "_M'sorry, Ed. I've told you the truth, and now it's all going to be okay. Because the truth sets us free._" The knot in Edward's stomach felt like a cannonball and filled him with a very real fear.

"Robert, you're scaring me. What's going on? Talk to me!"

"_M'done, that's all. Done. Done wif military, done wif secrets, done wif life! Done wif... everything. At last. So I thought I'd call to say that I was sorry and tell you g'bye._" Robert picked up the revolver and loaded a single bullet into the next chamber as Anouk walked up, standing at his right, Peter on his left. Ed's eyes opened wide in disbelief as he frantically motioned for Al to hurry and grab him some pants and a coat.

"Robert, stop it! Whatever you're planning on doing, stop it, that's an order! Tell me where you live, Robert! Just stay put and don't do anything and Alphonse and I will be right there!"

Robert tilted his head up, finishing the last of his drink before setting the glass down on the table beside him. He knew he was still on the phone with Ed, but he wasn't really hearing him anymore. All he could hear were the phantoms, angry, bitter and crying for revenge. He looked up at Anouk and then at Peter, and held the gun up to each of them. The victims of years of dedicated mercenary work all gathered and crowded around Robert's chair, cheering and goading him on, begging him to join them in their cold and loveless hell. "Fair's fair. Either of you care to do th'honors?"

Anouk's rouge lips parted as she held up her hands. "'Not I,' said the wolf," she said. Robert looked up pleadingly at Peter, who scowled in his sister's direction for a long moment and then back down at Robert. He shook his head, gently pushing Robert's wrist back to his own body.

"You'll have to carry out your final orders alone," Peter whispered. "Do it. Do it now." Robert looked the small gun over, admiring its shine and sleekness; it had always been his favorite. He finally turned his attention back to the frantic young man who was still on the phone with him and urgently calling his name.

"_G'bye, Eddie._"

There was a faint clicking sound, followed by a loud pop that exited wetly and ended with a dull splattering noise and a chilling silence. Edward stood there, terrified and shaking. Did that really just happen?

"Robert? Robert! Robert, answer me!" No sounds of life or movement answered Edward. Frightened tears welled up in the corners of his eyes as the reality sank in, making the boy feel ill.

"What do we do," Alphonse asked, his voice shaking as he shared in his brother's horror. Edward gasped lightly and swallowed hard, hanging up the line only long enough to reset it before he started rotating the numbers.

"Calling the one person who'll know what to do," Ed said.

The phone rang sharply, invading Roy's dreams and cutting through his sleep like a cold steel bat. He groaned as he pulled himself to a sitting position and grabbed the phone next to his bed. "Mustang," he stated, trying not to sound like a zombie.

"_Roy_!" Roy blinked, his mind matching the voice to people who were on a first-name basis with him and then looking at the clock nearest him.

"Fullmetal," he groaned. "It's one-thirty in the morning! What's wrong?" He'd known the boys since they were children, and as much as Ed liked to annoy him, he knew Ed would never call at crazy hours just for the hell of it.

"_It's First Lieutenant Robert Clark! I-I think he's dead!_" Roy's eyes opened up, fully awake as he reached for the lamp. "_He called me and was just babbling nonsense and talking to himself, but then he said it was all over and then I heard the gun go off! Robert killed himself while he was talking to me!_" Roy held the phone to his ear with his shoulder, quickly dressing as he listened to the frantic teen. Ed had seen plenty of death before, but Roy knew as well as anyone that you never, ever get used to it.

"Fullmetal, I need you to take a deep breath and calm down. Where are you?"

"_At home_," Ed replied shakily. "_And as far as I know, Robert was at his home but I... I don't know where he lives!_"

"Here's what I want you to do – calm down and wait for me there. Don't go anywhere, don't call anyone. I'll call the MP's and send them to Clark's house and I'll be over as quick as I can, got it?"

Ed nodded, even though he knew Roy couldn't hear that. "_Got it_." Roy jotted down the name and rank, hanging up the phone and dialing out. Thirty-five minutes later, Roy's black car came to a halt and Roy exited, dashing up the stairs of the military apartments, hurrying down the hall and knocking on Ed's front door. Quietly Alphonse opened the door, very relieved to see the Colonel. He looked in at Ed, who sat on the sofa, still in his boxers. His hair hung down, hiding his face like a curtain. His shoulders rose and fell unevenly. Slowly Roy crossed the living room and took a seat on the distraught boy's right, Alphonse planted at Ed's left. Not really knowing what else to say, Roy placed his arm across Ed's shoulders, giving Ed's flesh arm a paternal squeeze. Edward bent over further, bringing his hands up to cover his face as he tried to hide how shaken he was. They sat there quietly as Ed quietly wept and trembled, Roy doing his best to comfort him. Several minutes later, the shaking lessened and Ed finally looked up at his boss whom he'd come to accept as his friend.

"Edward," Roy said softly, "are you okay?" Roy mentally scoffed at himself; what kind of a question was _that_? Of course Ed wasn't okay! But he had to say..._something_. Ed wiped his face with his flesh hand and drew in a deep, shaky breath as he tried to put himself back together.

"Honestly.... not really. In fact I'd go so far as to say tonight's been pretty shitty." Roy winced slightly and gave the teen's shoulder another firm pat as he tried to figure out in the back of his head how Maes would have handled the situation. Ed made another dab at his face and sighed outward, glancing back up at Roy before turning his gaze away. "Roy, what am I going to do? It all just happened so fast... One minute he's drunk and rambling, next he's talking to himself, and then... Oh, God damn it! What did I do?!"

"You didn't do anything," Roy answered sternly, trying to maneuver Ed's face with his other hand to look him in the eyes. "Robert was obviously not well. Did you try to talk him out of it?" Ed's eyes widened, surprised Roy would even suspect anything else.

"Of course I did! I told him not to hurt himself! I asked him to tell me where he lived and I'd go over to talk to him! But he... he just..."

Alphonse looked over at his brother and hugged him sympathetically. "Brother, this wasn't your fault! You didn't do anything wrong – you tried to talk another soldier out of suicide."

Roy tapped on Ed's shoulder, pulling the boy's attention back to him. "Look, the Military Police are at Robert's house right now looking into things and making their reports. I already told them you were on the phone with him and trying to talk him out of it when it happened. You're not in trouble, but they are going to want to talk to you." Roy's eyes and voice were firm and seemed to be holding Ed from a panic attack.

"I can help you through this; it'll be okay. But before they come to talk to you in the morning, I need you to talk to me and tell me what's going on. Was he mixed up in whatever it is you're researching?" Edward nodded solemnly. "Okay then. Just take a deep breath and talk to me."

Ed wiped his face and leaned back, taking a deep breath before opening up to Roy, telling him everything. Everything about the fire, the abduction, the nightmares, the encounters... everything.

And Robert had been right. It felt good to come clean.

"_Because the truth sets us free_."


	7. Human

**_A/N: Hello everybody! Still with me? Great! :D Nothing TOO horribly explicit in this one, but it does have some rather disturbing mental imagery and some fun mind-melting moments. So, yeah, last bit of the chapter may make some of you squick a little as it involves corpses and freaky stuff. Thanks so much to everyone who's been keeping up with this serial, and I'm so sorry for it taking two weeks to get this chapter out, but hopefully the content will make up for the wait. 3 As always, reviews are GREATLY appreciated. Ready? Let's go!_**

* * *

"Liar!" Peter Cully's large, heavy palms smacked solidly against the wooden armrests of his chair for emphasis before he rose from his seat, pointing accusingly at Edward, who sat only a few feet away with Roy at his side. "You were antagonizing him and you knew it! You went in, asking a man to bring up very painful memories and then demand that he give you every last detail! Sir, I knew Robert Clark – it took him years to get back to normal after Ishval. And then after the disappearance of my sister he broke down all over again!" Peter had turned his attention to an old, balding gentleman whose face closely resembled a shar-pei's. The plump old man removed his thin-wired spectacles and gave Peter another one of those looks he'd been having to give him all morning.

"And for the fourth time, Lieutenant Colonel, if you do not calm yourself and sit down, I'm going to dismiss everything and notate you as an instigator of trouble." The appointed judge, Clarence Yates, had just about had it with Cully's antics as the man sullenly resumed sitting. Meanwhile, Edward sat awkwardly in his chair, trying to look calm despite feeling horrible inside and out. It hadn't even been a full twenty-four hours since the suicide of Robert Clark when Ed had received a summons to a private, preliminary hearing with an appointed judge. It wasn't a hearing for an official summary court martial, but the Lieutenant Colonel seemed convinced that Ed's malicious and prying nature had been what drove an emotionally unstable man over the edge, and as such the young Major should be tried at a general court marshal as though it were homicide.

Ed hadn't been able to sleep since he'd hung up the phone. While Roy was over he'd stolen brief naps only to jolt awake, the horrifying pop and splatter echoing through his mind, haunting him. Dark circles traced the boy's eyes, giving him a harrowed look that Roy hadn't seen since they had first met. And now, years later, he was at the boy's side, defending him from the stringent officer who would have him arrested for a crime he didn't commit. Roy shot a cold, jagged look at Peter, then softened it slightly as he looked back to Judge Yates.

"Sir, Edward's worked for me for years," Roy stated to the appointed judge. "He may not be the most personable, but he's a good man! He would never hurt anybody intentionally and he'd never encourage anyone to end their own life. Never." The doggish old man rubbed at his temples before fixing his eyes on Edward.

"And what have you got to say, young man? You've been awfully quiet, considering the accusations being held against you." Ed pursed his lips together, the sad and sickening conversation replaying itself in Ed's mind for what felt like the thousandth time. He could still hear Robert loudly sipping at whatever it was he was sipping, hear him ramble about people he didn't know or who weren't even alive anymore, hear him talk to presumably himself.... and then how the he seemed to just skid down a slope of no return. As the gun went off again, Edward looked up at Yates, the expression of sleep deprivation and sadness weighing on the old man's heart; the boy couldn't have been much older than his own grandson.

"I don't know, Sir," Ed replied quietly. "I had been talking to him, yes, and I admit I did bring up his ex lover and how they used to work together. But I never thought...!" He breathed out slowly and shook his head. "I didn't know he was suicidal! I gave him my card and told him to call me sometime..." Peter Cully narrowed his dark eyes at Edward and began to rise from his seat again. Mr. Yates lifted his hand, silently cuing him to stay seated, already knowing where he was about to go with this.

"I'm inclined to believe you that you didn't know," Yates said, making sure that Edward was focusing solely on him. "You certainly don't strike me as a sociopath, and given that you have no previous relationship with Mr. Clark, I don't see where you would have any inclination to his mental stability or motive to see him dead. But you are almost a legal adult are are being held as such in this matter. So I must ask you, Major Elric, at any point in the conversation with First Lieutenant Robert Clark did you encourage him to put the gun down?"

"Yes! Of course I told him to!"

"Did you, at any point, tease him? Insult him? Tell him you doubted that he'd carry out on his threats?"

"No! Never!" Mr. Yates turned his gaze back to Peter, tired and annoyed.

"Lieutenant Colonel, I really fail to see how you've connected the dots and come up with an entirely different picture than I have. The boy's not a threat to society, and though there wasn't a note the coroner has most definitely ruled Mr. Clark's death as a suicide." Peter sneered at Roy and Ed briefly.

"That's how it went according to _him_, sir. But that's all we have – _his_ word! Robert's dead, remember? He can't tell us what _really_ happened! Even if Major Elric didn't pull the trigger, I still say it needs to be investigated and he needs to be held until it can be proven as to whether or not he was an accessory to this man's death!" Yates sighed again.

"I think your choice of words are in poor taste," Yates said. "But I'll consider your statements and that you were friends with Robert. I do find it odd that he'd call someone he hardly knew as opposed to someone he's known for years, but I suppose that's why it warrants looking into." Yates quickly organized a thin stack of papers and notes before looking back at each individual. "You are all dismissed. When I've come to a decision, I'll send a message to you. Bear in mind that my choice is final and I won't have either of you arguing with me on it. Am I clear?" Roy, Peter and Edward each nodded as the rose, leaving old Mr. Yates alone in his office. So many things were strange – Robert knew Peter better but called on the child for help instead. Peter asserted that the conversation on the phone went differently, but he couldn't know as he wasn't there. Edward had been at home all night, and his brother and superior backed that up. But so had Robert. And yet they all seemed to know so much... Yates sighed as he reached for his telephone. There were files to check, coroners and police to talk to... and a nice luncheon date and a game of golf with a friend he now had to call and cancel, which was unfortunate as he'd been looking forward to it all week.

The hours of the day passed slowly and in an uneasy silence. Peter Cully had mercifully kept to his own department, but word from the secretarial pool was that he was in a fouler mood that usual, his personnel fearing to lose their jobs if they said anything to irritate the man further. Roy, for his part, was equally quiet, genuinely concerned about the outcome of all of this. Everyone in his office was hoping that Yates would see that Ed really had no intention of hurting Robert, but Peter was a cunning and manipulative man, and Yates seemed to be leaning toward the angry man's favor by the end of the meeting. Ed was uncharacteristically quiet, sitting in one of the chairs and getting little to nothing accomplished, wondering if this would be the end of his military career.

Daylight was beginning to fade when a light knock came at the office door before it opened, revealing a very petite young woman with two telegrams in her hand. The short red-haired girl zipped toward Roy's desk, her tiny, spiky ponytail bouncing as she went and extended the two letters to Roy. The girl dismissed herself, exiting as quietly as she'd come, all eyes on the two notices. He read them each twice before looking up at Ed.

"You've been spared the noose," Roy said, Ed joining his coworkers in a sigh of relief. "Yates ruled that you were simply the bystander of an unfortunate event." Ed cocked his head, looking at the second notice Roy held.

"What's that one, then? A threat from Peter?" Roy shook his head.

"No, it's an invitation to dinner from Major General Thompson. Telegram says he wants you to come to his house as soon as possible."

* * *

The house was, to say the least, grand, and looked as though it could have swallowed his childhood home four times over. Ed's head craned backward as he stepped out of Roy's car and shut the door. He turned his attention back to the car as Havoc rolled down the passenger window halfway.

"Sure you don't want one of us to tag along with you, Chief?" Ed shook his head, his breath puffing into little clouds as he spoke.

"I really don't think the old man's out to get me," Ed said. "And if he is, I have you both as witnesses since he invited me here." Roy leaned his head forward so Ed could clearly see him.

"If something does go awry, Fullmetal, I want you to leave immediately. Got me? You got lucky today, and the last thing you need is anything else happening that would cause a problem."

"I don't get why you're so wrapped up in this," Havoc said. "It's not really your problem, is it?"

"If anything weird happens, I promise, I'll bolt," Ed said, his lack of sleep lacing his voice with annoyance. "But I really don't think I can let this go, not now. Whether I like it or not, it's become my problem." He paused, momentarily thinking about how everybody involved seemed to want to push this problem into some dark corner to be forgotten. "I've come too far to just ignore it." Roy nodded, understanding the boy's resolve. Ed gave the roof of the car a solid thump with his palm before turning to walk away toward the sweeping staircase that led to Thompson's tall oaken doors. He looked up at the heavy brass knocker shaped like a great bear with a massive hoop in its mouth before grasping the cold metal, knocking three times before returning his hands to his pockets.

The tall, thin man who opened the door for Edward and gestured that he enter moved around very quickly and quietly, much like a weasel in a suit as he held out his arm to receive the boy's coat.

"Major Elric, I presume?" Ed nodded as he stood in the foyer, looking all over the cavernous home. "Very good. This way, please, to the study. The Major General has been expecting you." Edward quietly followed the man through the maze of dark rooms and hallways until he was ushered through another set of doors and found himself standing in what could only be interpreted as a conveniently furnished cave lined with books from top to bottom, broad dancing shadows from the fireplace cresting the floor. Before Ed could say or ask anything, the butler had vanished. Edward looked toward the center of the room where two plush red velvet chairs sat beside the fire, one occupied by the Major General, who motioned silently with a gloved hand for him to take the other seat.

The was a long silence as Ed crossed the room and took his seat, his eyes locked on the old man as he stared distantly into the fire, the fire's light glinting off of his glass of scotch. After several minutes of nothing being said, Ed moved his gaze off of Sam to the little table next to his chair and felt his body tense like a hunting animal's as he spotted the very thick files stacked upon each other, armed with paper clips and bound with rubber bands. Thompson glanced down and followed the line from the table to the burning gold of Ed's eyes and sat his glass down next to the files.

"I suppose you're wondering why I saved your ass today," Thompson stated flatly as he folded his hands over his broad lap.

"Saved me?" Ed asked. "From what?"

"Why, from the Lieutenant Colonel, my boy. He almost had Yates convinced to court martial you as an instigator, so I put in a good word for you and got him to drop the whole affair." Ed leaned into his armrest, slightly dumbstruck.

"How did you..." The old man raised an eyebrow, a wry, mirthless grin stretching across his mouth.

"Know? Really, Major. You think I, of all people, wouldn't have heard? Robert worked under me for most of his career, and I hand-selected him. The MP's were on the phone to me after he'd arrived at the coroner's. And you got very lucky that Clarence was assigned to you and that he happens to be a very old friend of mine. He was going to cancel a luncheon appointment with me just to mull it all over." Samuel sighed sadly as he moved his hand to the topmost file and rested it there, idly moving his thumb from side to side slowly in thought. "I warned you not to follow Anouk's path, son; people get _hurt_." Ed's eyes fell, staring angrily at nothing in particular, angry that things had become so out of control, angry that he had so narrowly escaped from Peter's manipulations, angry that he'd been played for a fool, and angry that a good man was now dead because of it. Slowly Ed looked back up at Sam.

"I'm so sorry," Ed said quietly. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen." Sam sighed again, picking up the thick folders and holding them in his lap, leaving a thin folder on the table.

"I know you are," Sam replied gently. "But unfortunately, it did happen, and you aren't finished yet. Robert hasn't been well in years – he wasn't the same after he did Special Ops assignments in Ishval and retired from my unit into a hospital. We never knew why, but he insisted that he could, well... that he was being haunted by all the people he killed on his missions from me and from the war. We all knew he was hallucinating, but something in his mind snapped and all the guilt just chased out his sanity. He tried to kill himself several times since then, so his suicide..." Sam's words caught in his throat as he reached across, holding the two thick folders just in front of Edward's reach, but not quite ready to surrender. "You were on the phone with him; what did he tell you?"

"He just kept apologizing over and over. Robert said it was his fault, but wouldn't tell me what, and that he stole some files from Anouk and showed them to Peter who showed it to somebody else, and in turn all three of them were blackmailed over it. It was like a crazy domino effect." Sam lowered the files to Edward, who instantly opened them and began sifting through the pages quickly.

"That's usually how these tragedies happen; one thing leads to another and then suddenly it's a mess that nobody can recover from. The bit you want is at the very end of the top file, before her resignation papers." Ed's fingers sped through the clipped and bound pages until he got to the very last few and started reading it over, his eyes drinking up the faded ink and trying to play it all out in his mind.

"Her last mission was just a simple delivery," Sam continued, not really caring if the boy was listening anymore or not. "But if I could undo it all, I would." Ed's fingers traced down the coarse and warped objection statement, heavy creases and tears spread all over the page as though it had been crumpled several times. He flipped the page over and skimmed through, but the next pages were only for her resignation; there was no report, only an objective.

"Where's the report? It's not in here."

"The report she gave was oral. These kinds of missions are of a delicate nature and a paper trail can't be left. Her objective page is anonymous and untraceable, and vague enough that anybody not involved won't know what it's talking about. She wouldn't have been able to write a report when she returned even if I had asked her. Anouk was inconsolably upset when she came back. Pale, hysterical, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep... I had asked too much of her; I sent her to Hell, asked her to willingly carry out a mission she was against, sacrifice something she'd never get back... and expected her to come back just fine." Sam paused, taking a long, slow sip of his scotch. His eyes narrowed as he stared into the fire, betraying his sadness and regret. Ed skimmed over the mission objective, keeping in mind what Anouk's company was usually called out to do.

The objective what written on a piece of paper roughly the size of a telegram, much like the ones Roy had received earlier that night and the warning he'd gotten yesterday. It stated very plainly that Dr. Vincent Tesh had died suddenly and Anouk was to travel to his research laboratory to the north of a little village called Cameroon, retrieve all the files and specimens except for those numbered seven-hundred-eighty-one through eight-hundred-one; those specimens were to be completely erased. Further down it stated that she was to bring those experiments and documents to Dr. Evan Warrens at Alchemical Research Laboratory number Four. It was just a mission playing fetch. Ed looked back up at Sam.

"What did you ask her to do? The objective states for her to "erase" twenty of the experiments. What was were they?" Sam sighed sadly.

"If I had known what they were, I wouldn't have sent Anouk out on this mission... I thought they would just be animals, that's all they're supposed to be is animals..." A solid knot was forming in Ed's stomach. "Dr. Tesh was a chimeric research alchemist, and though he was quite good at what he did, his methods were unorthodox and unfavorable, and it got him many enemies. So I wasn't very surprised when the madman was found dead. Anouk brought back photos... I should have burned them..." Sam opened the remaining file and pulled out a stack of large glossy black and white photos and handed them to an already ill-feeling boy. Ed gasped and felt sick to his stomach as a tsunami of horrible emotions and memories threatened to drown his mind. The photos were before and after shots, each clearly numbered and labeled, and almost each one of them showed a human baby.

Ed moved through the photos one at a time, horrified. Ten infant girls and ten infant boys, all still far too young to be taken from their mothers' breast, and ten different animals that were also at their youngest ages. The photos changed, showing the process of the infant human and animal being merged, the backsides of the photos notating that the human was matched to a baby animal of the same gender and of similar size and maturity. Tears threatened to escape from his eyes, Nina's innocent smile and laughter echoing in his mind. Edward swallowed hard, words failing. "But.... but why babies," Ed managed at last. "Chimeras have such a low success rate anyway; to do that to a human baby would be..."

"Mad?" Sam nodded. "Tesh was a monster and a lunatic, but his thesis did make sense. He felt that the reason so many chimeras fail is that they aren't compatible in too many ways. He felt that if the subjects were the same gender and both in their infancy, the genetics would merge better and show a greater chance for the chimera's longevity and success. I honestly didn't know that's what I was asking Anouk to do... All those innocent children, dead.... _Erased_..." Edward continued through the sickening collage, now looking at the 'after' shots, rage, sadness and horror storming within him as he looked at each transformed child. They had all been human. They had all been somebody's hopes and dreams. And now they were something entirely different and unimaginable. Some took a shape closer to the animal they had been mixed with. The little boy and girl who had been spliced with fox kits bore long snouts and oddly-colored fur. The bear children were stumpy with irregular proportions. One little boy that had been crossed with a small ape looked very human, if not very oddly constructed. Limbs were twisted. Bones were misshapen. Some had tails and fur, some had skin, some had a mix of skin and scales. Some looked more convincingly human than others, but everyone was just a little off their mark. Ed stopped on one photo, his eyes widened in surprise. The photo centered on a human boy, nude and crying, small tufts of hair visible on his head. The child didn't look like it had been transmuted yet, and save for the slight arch in his upper lip seemed to be a perfect human baby.

"Adrian," Edward gasped, looking the child over again. He flipped the picture over, hoping there were some notes, but found only the typed label reading: _**Experiment 801**_._** Human male, 3 mos., White lion cub, male, 4 weeks.**_ "But this baby's human; look at him!Was the experiment not finished when Tesh died, and this one not transmuted yet?" Sam gave a soft shrug.

"Who can say? Anouk didn't copy the research data and delivered that to Dr. Warrens. But when she came back to me so distraught, I knew I had lost her; I had asked too much of her. I never thought for a moment that I was sending her to murder children." Ed looked the photo over again and then removed the photo Anouk had given to him, drawing his own conclusions.

"But this baby here, is it the captain's son?" Sam took the photos, looking at them both. Slowly, Sam nodded.

"I would assume so. When she came back she was in pieces over the mission. I asked her to take some time off to recoup, she declared that she'd quit and that she was done. I couldn't make her change her mind for anything, so when she handed me her papers I backdated them two weeks so that would be her last day; it was the least I could o. Anouk walked out, emptied her desk, and never sat foot inside Central Headquarters again. She spent some time back in her home town with her parents out in West City, and a few months later she was back in Central and running the Stone Rose, carrying a baby that she certainly hadn't been pregnant with. The only thing I could figure was that she saved that one from execution and took it upon herself to raise the boy. I knew better than to ask though, and she knew better than to tell me."

"Because he was technically military property," Ed said distantly, recalling what Robert had told him. Sam traced his fingers across the faces of Anouk and Adrian.

"It would have exposed too many things and put too many people in danger, so it was better to just look the other way. Over the years I'd visit periodically to check on them, and occasionally Anouk would have tidbits of important information for me, and every now and again I could get her to go on little one-nighters for me. They didn't happen often, but I liked keeping an eye on them and making sure they were safe. I'd even grown rather fond of the boy, but so were most people. He'd play on his mother's harpsichord and you'd forget that you had problems..." Gently, the Major General handed the photos back to Edward, who slipped them back into his breast pocket.

"So she was like family to you?" Sam sipped the last of his glass, looking genuinely sad.

"The missus and I never had a brood of our own; we never could, and I was always so busy. I'd have made a terrible father. But if I'd had a daughter, I think she'd have been something like Anouk, and over time that's how I came to see her. I guess that's why I objected so much to her giving up her career – I saw it as my pretty young daughter rebelling and throwing her life away. But I still loved her, and Adrian; he grew up with me visiting and liked to call me Pop-Pop. I once gave him a stuffed white lion, and it was years before he'd put it down. The boy was so happy, though, and Anouk gave him a good life." Ed re-stacked the papers so that they'd all fit into the folders as best they could, and slipped all the horrible pictures back into their folder before binding them all with rubber bands. Sam stood up slowly and walked to the fireplace, poking the logs and shuffling the embers, sending a new burst of flames upward.

"I really don't know who would have taken the boy, though. The only person who knew about him was me, and even I'm not entirely certain about what he is or isn't."

"But what about the file that Robert said he stole from Anouk? Any idea what they were?" Sam shook his head, still staring into the blazing red city within the fireplace.

"You'd have to ask Anouk what went missing; to my knowledge nobody even knew about the objective and her orders but us, and the data was delivered and never spoken of again. So your best bet is to ask her, since you seem to be the only one who knows where she's hiding – even I couldn't find her., and I thought I knew all of her hiding places." Ed rose from his seat, tucking the files under his left arm and walked to the tired old man. Sam slowly turned around to face Ed, who extended his right hand. Sam grasped the steel hand firmly and shook it as Ed thanked him for his all of his help. Sam smiled very sadly at Edward.

"I believe that everything happens for a reason," Sam said quietly as he walked Ed to the door that lead back to the hall. "And out of bad situations something good can occur. Anouk went on that mission, but decided to save one little boy to love and raise. Robert killed himself, but it opened a path for you to find Adrian... My only hope is that this will have a happy ending." Ed put his hand on the knob, opening the door slowly and paused.

"There's no such thing as happy endings," Ed replied thoughtfully. "Because nothing ever ends. Life goes on." With that, Ed excused himself into the dark hall and showed himself out, leaving Major General Samuel Thompson III alone in the darkening room, feeling more like a regretful, defeated old grandfather than anything.

* * *

Alphonse looked up from his magazine as Ed walked through the door, very quiet and spiritless.

"Brother, are you okay? How did it go?" Ed looked up at Al, who popped up from the sofa and trotted to his brother, his voice weighed with worry. "What's wrong, will you be court marshaled?" Ed shook his head, leaning in to tightly hug the suit of armor.

"No, no I'm fine," Ed replied sadly. "I'm just really, really tired. I'll see you in the morning." Edward hugged Al one more time before wordlessly walking back to the bedroom, not once pausing to consider dinner.

"Brother..."

Edward slunk into bed and pulled the covers up high, praying that he could just sleep it all off and feel better about it in the morning. He knew he had to go talk to Anouk, and wondered if anything happy could possibly come from all of this. Ed pulled his arm up over his face, his eyes buried in his elbow. _Shou murdered his daughter_, Ed thought, _but then Scar murdered Shou, and now he can't hurt anybody else... _He sighed, his head far too full and his body far too tired.

_The wooden gate clacked behind Edward as he walked up the path and smiled brightly as Nina put down her jump rope and ran to him, hugging around his legs tightly. _

_ "Big Brother, Big Brother," she cried out happily. "You've come back to play with me! I've missed you so much!" Ed leaned down and picked the little girl up, hugging her tightly in his arms. Nina giggled and squealed happily as Ed nuzzled against her. He felt himself relaxing as the scent of cookies and sunshine washed over him. _

_ "I missed you too, Nina. Lots and lots." Nina wriggled out of Ed's arms back onto the ground and took Ed's flesh hand, tugging at him toward the house, her smile still the sweetest thing he'd ever seen. Edward laughed and complied with the little girl as she tugged. "Where are we going, pipsqueak?"_

_ "I have a new friend and I want you to meet him! Come play with us, Big Brother!" Edward allowed himself to be led by the hand until she let go and began running ahead of him. He chased after her to keep up, but the tiny child seemed to have wings on her feet and always be just out of his reach or line of sight. Through the hall, down the stairs, around the corner again until Edward stopped suddenly, finding himself in Shou's research lab. Varying sizes of cages lined the walls, the miserable creatures inside hissing and growling. He froze, looking for the child. _

_ "Nina? Nina, where'd you go?" He looked around and down, and finally saw Nina sitting in the middle of the floor, playing jacks with Adrian. Adrian's pale eyes seemed hollow, as though he were only the shell of a little boy. He looked up emptily at Edward, who took a slight step backward. Nina giggled brightly and flung herself around the older boy's neck, hugging on him. _

_ "Big Brother, this is Adrian. He said he'd be my friend and play with me for as long as we want!" She sat back down and picked up the rubber ball to bounce it. Adrian's eyes were firmly locked on Edward. _

_ "I don't like you," Adrian said to Edward quietly. "I don't want you to play with us." Ed knelt down by Nina, trying to be diplomatic about this, remembering that they were both just children. _

_ "Why not? What if I want to be your friend, and help you get home to your mom?" Adrian pulled his knees around his chest, his thin arms and pale skin making the boy seem very frail. _

_ "Because I know you're lying," Adrian replied. "You don't really care, and you'll just end up hurting me. You're just like him and you know it." Edward blinked. _

_ "Just like who?"_

_ "Shou. He told me so himself." Ed was taken aback for a moment before stiffening. _

_ "I'm nothing like Shou! He's a lunatic that hurts people to get what he wants!" Adrian's eyes narrowed darkly. _

_ "Right, and you only murdered your little brother to bring your mom back from the dead because that's the _nice_ thing to do." Edward reeled back, speechless. He tried to object, he tried to protest that he was nothing like Shou and never would be. But a tiny voice in his head was agreeing that the child was right. Ed looked up and was suddenly nose to nose with the vacant-eyed child. "We're all just human. And humans are monsters." Nina continued bouncing the ball up and down, lost in her own world, not hearing anything. Nina stopped bouncing the ball and smiled up at Edward. _

_ "It's okay Big Brother," she said happily. "Because you're here now and can play with us forever!" Ed's heartbeat shot up, suddenly feeling very threatened by the two children. _

_ "I'm... I'm going to go." Edward stood up and headed toward the stairs and recoiled his flesh hand back in pain as he grabbed at the doorknob. It was searing hot. Slowly he opened it with his right hand and thick clouds of smoke billowed down into the room as Nina and Adrian continued playing. Flames licked up the walls, consuming the wallpaper on the plaster, burning through the lathe, and threatening to bring the ceiling down on them all. Ed ran back down the stairs three at a time. _

_ "Nina, Adrian, come with me! We have to get out of here or we'll burn!"_

_ "But we want you to play with us," Nina protested as she was hoisted into Edward's arms. Grumbling, Adrian took Edward's hand as they ran up the stairs and into the inferno, looking for a way out. Around long corners, through endless halls, rapidly moving to and fro to avoid anyone being hurt by falling bits of house. Nina curled up tightly around Edward's neck and shoulders as he began to cough and choke on the hot air and smoke. Finally, the front door was in sight. Edward ran forward, firmly holding onto Adrian's hand. _

_ "We're out!" Ed cried out as they burst through the door into the night air. "Is everyone okay?" Edward looked down at his hand as he felt his grip on Adrian slacken. The child took weakened steps along the sidewalk, his hollow eyes clouding over as his sooty and singed legs began to turn to ashes and crumble beneath him. The child gave Ed a fanged smile as his body fell apart into dust, disintegrating slowly upward. _

_ "The road to hell is paved with good intentions," Adrian said darkly, his grin shining in the firelight as his torso cracked and broke to pieces. "And idle hands do the Devil's work. Surely then we, the creations of man, must be the Devil's magnum opus." Adrian's grinning, ashen face fell to the ground at Edward's feet, the dust bursting upon contact and blowing into the wind. Edward stood there, silent and trembling. _

_ "Big Brother, I hurt," Nina said softly. Edward braced Nina's back with his flesh hand to pull the child off his shoulder, a scream rising to his throat and choking him with silence. A rotted canine face with a long brown mane looked up from Edward's arms as he fell to his knees, still holding the child. Blood stained her fur and dripped from her eyeless sockets, small patches of fur and flesh missing from her skull. The deformed and rotted corpse's head tilted and seemed to look pleadingly at the horrified teen. Ed shook the child firmly, trying to rouse her as tears poured down his cheeks. The skull rolled backwards as the blood pooled around Ed's knees, draining from every orifice. _

_ "Nina...?" Edward shook the corpse again. The burning house caved in onto itself, sending the flames higher. _

_ "NINA!"_

Edward bolted upright in bed, panting heavily and wiping furiously at his soaked cheeks. He sat for a long, silent moment trembling in the dark before getting up from his bed and walking back out to the kitchen. Alphonse rose again from the sofa to come to his brother's side as Ed took a seat at the table, his elbows propped on the table and his face buried in his hands. Al gently put a hand on Edward's shoulder.

"Can't sleep?" Al asked.

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to sleep again," Ed replied, his voice choked.


	8. Betrayal

**_A/N: Hello, Internetland! :D Sorry about the lag in getting this chapter, and incredibly huge thanks to everyone who's been reading! //_^ Cranky Ed and fun references to current events of the time, but nothing very explicit. Further into the rabbit hole we go!_**

* * *

"I really don't think that's a good idea," Alphonse warned as he watched Edward pour the first cup of his second pot of coffee. "That much coffee in so few hours can't be good for you." Ed gracelessly several small mounds of sugar into the cup and stirred only long enough to dissolve it before taking a large gulp of the steaming black liquid. Alphonse shook his head, taking a loaf of sourdough and a small summer sausage from the cupboard and set them on the table in front of Edward. "At least try to eat something to pad your stomach? All that acid on an empty stomach's going to make you sick." Edward reached out for the bread and cut off a thick slice and began to much tiredly.

"I just need to stay up long enough to get it out of my system," Ed replied around a mouthful of bread. "Stupid nightmares. And I don't care what the druggist said; that talking-psycho-babble shit is crap and the bearded looney under it is a quack." Ed frowned, taking another long sip. "There's nothing going on in _my_ head!"

_Understatement of the century_, Al thought. He would have rolled his eyes if he could have, wishing his brother could just sleep for a little while and stop being such a jerk. "Ed, psychoanalysis isn't quackery – it's a legitimate, developing science that I think could explain quite a lot of things if it only -"

"And next you're going to tell me that you agree with the guy from last century who thought we all descended from monkeys." Al inwardly sighed; sometimes there was just no reasoning with Ed. He was glad that he knew better than to take anything his brother was saying personally at this point; the small blonde was stressed, sleep deprived and running on coffee. From the time Robert had died two nights ago Ed didn't seem to be able to sleep for more than a few hours before he'd wake up from dark, violent dreams that left the boy shaking and almost terrified to go back to sleep. Al sat there quietly watching his brother eat, feeling very helpless in the matter; he'd asked many times what Ed was dreaming that was keeping him from resting, but Ed just wouldn't go into detail. After the fifth time waking up from horrible images, Al had dragged his brother to a pharmacist for some kind of sleep aid that might suppress his dreams, and was rather embarrassed when Ed made a scene about talking to a professional in dream analysis since they were keeping him awake.

Edward ate more slowly and quietly than his little brother had seen him eat in years, but despite his gnawing stomach pains he just couldn't bring himself to eat much for fear of the food coming right back up. He needed to stop drinking the coffee. He needed to _sleep_. But _they_ wouldn't let him. Dreams of Nina. Dreams of Mom. Dreams of Alphonse. Dreams of being ripped apart. Dreams of horrible chimeric babies in dark laboratories, whispering and begging for Edward to save them. Screams of the tormented and damned children rising up into the night, threatening to deafen him. Terrifying images of Robert, blood running down his face and a large chunk of the back of his head missing, standing there laughing and trailing blood everywhere before grappling Ed's shoulder's and whispering that the boy would never sleep again. That had been the last straw for Ed, and he'd decided to just not sleep long enough to dream, making his body sluggish, weak and exhausted.

"So if you're not going to sleep, what's your next move? Mustang took you off availability for the time being." Ed swallowed another small round of sausage, glancing at the stack of files before looking back up at Al.

"We go see Anouk. I have plausible leads and ideas, but I can't go forward until I get answers from her."

"Do you think she knows about Robert?" Ed thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"I doubt it. She told me she doesn't keep up with what's going on in city limits, and she doesn't have a phone. Come to think of it, I didn't even see a radio in her house."

"And even if they weren't friends at the end, not telling her would be wrong."

* * *

The golden shadows fell to the ground and illuminated the windows and snowdrifts with the last vestiges of light. Walking toward the outskirts of town Al and Ed passed a small group of children having one more go at freezing each other with snowballs as their mothers began opening doors to call for them as the sun set. Al mentally captured the scene; if they hadn't been intending to get somewhere and he'd had a camera, it would have been a great candid shot. The two marched on quietly, the snow crunching beneath their feet, until they had long since passed the last occupied house and headed out of city limits. Roy had offered to go with them, but Ed insisted that it would be better if only he and Al showed up; Roy hadn't been invited, and bringing somebody else into might cause more problems.

Alphonse looked from side to side at the long row of abandoned buildings on Gerard Street as they walked further and further away from the general populace, the condition of the buildings getting worse as they went on. Many buildings were boarded up at all the doors and windows to try and deter squatters, others missing large portions of wall and roof. Vacant homes with glassless windows were dark inside and seemed to gloomily moan their loneliness. After several miles of this suburban wasteland Alphonse tapped Ed on the shoulder.

"Brother, are you sure we're going to the right place?" Al asked, sounding very unsure about his surroundings. "This place looks like nobody's lived anywhere near here for years." Edward pulled his coat closer around him as the night's shade set in, lowering the temperature.

"Positive. This is the only Gerard Street that leads out of town, and these are all the same buildings I passed out and on the way back. All the buildings are like this except for her's." Ed craned his neck and then smiled, pointing to the brick building down the next block. The wide glass orb outside Anouk's door lit up as the Stone Rose was blanketed in dark. "There it is! It's dark out now and her light's on, so we're good to go."

As they approached the door they brushed the snow off from their shoulders and knocked the toes of their boots against the walls to dislodge snow, pebbles and mud before opening the heavy door to the bar and walking inside. Ed hung his coat up on the wall peg and glanced around the bar. Once again it was completely empty but smelled of food.

"Anouk," Ed called out. "Anouk, it's me, Ed!" Alphonse carefully looked around the tavern as he left the foyer, looking at the photos and framed music on the wall by the harpsichord and carefully peering around the empty dining area. It seemed cozy enough, but something he couldn't put his finger on didn't seem right. He casually dismissed the feeling and declared it nervousness. Ed and Al stood in front of the bar waiting quietly, looking toward the kitchen and the dining area and almost wondering if she was actually home when Anouk silently appeared in the doorway that led upstairs.

"Edward, how nice to see you again!" The brothers turned around from the bar to the doorway and looked at Anouk. Anouk moved forward, smiling brightly at Edward before tilting her head upward to Alphonse. "And you've brought company, I see."

"Anouk, this is my younger brother, Alphonse. Al, this is Captain Anouk Cully." Anouk smiled as she reached her right hand for Alphonse's, shaking it firmly. Her eyes locked on Al's, briefly holding him in her gaze as she shook his hand.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Alphonse. Either of you boys hungry? I've got a nice roast and some puddings cooking under it; take a seat and I'll get us some coffee." Anouk smiled again and excused herself, vanishing behind the bar and into the kitchen quietly. Ed turned to take a seat by the fire and stopped, turning to look over his shoulder at his brother who was still staring after Anouk. Edward reached over to tap Al on the arm. Alphonse shook his head for a moment, almost shuddering before laughing nervously before following Ed to take a seat. He was quiet and kept glancing around the room and feeling inexplicably nervous, as though he were subconsciously afraid that the room was going to bite him. Edward leaned in toward his brother.

"What is it," Ed whispered. Al leaned down, close to Ed.

"I don't know," Al replied quietly. "I can't quite explain it, something here just doesn't feel right. Something about this place, and the way she looked at me..."

"Yeah, the captain's kind of intense..." Al fidgeted and sighed lightly.

"No, that's not quite it either..." He subtly nudged Edward as he looked up and saw Anouk coming out of the kitchen with two steaming mugs in her hands. She sat down next to Edward, holding a cup out to each boy. Ed happily took his cup, instantly reaching over to the sugar bowl on the table nearest him as Al politely declined the steaming brew. After all these years he'd come up with several reasons to not be seen eating or drinking rather than explain why he didn't have a mouth to eat or drink them with. Anouk added sugar to her own cup and decided she'd drink it herself. They sat for a long moment hanging in an awkward quiet. Anouk smiled faintly and leaned back into her chair.

"I'm sure you boys didn't walk all the way out here just to have coffee," Anouk said quietly. "What's up?" Ed shifted slightly in his chair, trying to think of a tactful place to start and rubbed the back of his neck for a few seconds.

"Well... the last few days have been hell," Ed stated plainly. "We've found a lot of good leads, but need more information from you before we can follow up on any of them."

"Sure, just tell me whatever you need, Edward." Al and Ed glanced at each other briefly, not immediately wanting to bring up certain recent events but not quite sure what to say.

"The biggest questions we've run into are all from the night Adrian vanished," Al spoke up, taking some of the pressure off of his brother. "We checked all of the newspapers and asked around, but keep running into more questions. Can you tell us exactly what you remember?" Anouk's expression darkened, thinking back.

"We were opening presents by the fire," Anouk said quietly, looking around the room as though she could still see the gifts and her son sitting on the floor, tearing through wrapping paper excitedly. "All of the lights were out except for the light from the fireplace, so I guess they thought we were asleep. That's when I heard the front doorknob rattle very quietly, followed by a scratching noise. I got up to check it out when suddenly the door burst open and all my locks had been... _melted_. That's when the men came in – three of them- all masked and wearing black, except for the one wearing an old, outdated uniform. I yelled for Adrian to run and I tried to buy him some time. The biggest one ran at me first while the one in the uniform stayed back, drawing some kind of an array on my floor. I beat past the leader to stop the alchemist from whatever he was trying to do, but the leader gave me a lot of trouble... I- I couldn't beat him." Anouk's eyes fell as she took a long sip of her coffee, remembering how quickly everything had happened. The alchemist kept toward the back and moved more slowly, but it seemed odd that he and the large man seemed more intent on restraining her rather than killing her.

She narrowed her eyes, recalling how heavy the leader's hits were as he winded her, breaking her lower ribs in several places. He came at her over and over, and paused after he'd heard her left clavicle snap. Anouk had wondered why he didn't finish her then and there since he'd clearly beaten her, hating him as he stood over her gloating as she cried out in pain on the floor. His opportunity to strike was taken from him as a broken red brick from the kitchen hearth came sailing at his head from the kitchen door, and suddenly Adrian was scrambling to help his mother to her feet.

"Adrian and I ran to the cellar while the big one was stunned and the alchemist was still out. I fell... halfway down the stairs my body gave out from under me. When I did finally get all the way down, they weren't far behind me, so I went for my rifle. Adrian was headed out the door when I had it loaded, and by then I was almost nose-to-nose with the big bastard... I was aiming at his stomach, but he grabbed the muzzle and it ended up taking off part of his left arm, instead." Anouk's hand went to her temple, rubbing the side and back of her head, tears threatening to escape her eyes. "Something hit my head while he was screaming, and after that the room started to spin." She moved her hand away from her head, trying to wipe at her eye without appearing to do so, and shook her head before looking back to her guests.

"The last thing I remember seeing was the third man coming in from the back door, carrying Adrian over his shoulder. And then it all went black." Ed rubbed his arms up and down, a cold chill running up his spine.

"How did you escape then," Edward asked. Anouk sighed, wiping at her eyes again. "The newspapers said the fires went out by morning and there were reporters around the area for days. Did you talk to anyone about what happened?"

"I honestly don't know. I don't remember anything after that until I woke up and the whole neighborhood had burnt to a cinder and everyone was gone. My friends, my neighbors, everyone. It's like they all forgot that I was there." Ed crossed his arms over his chest, thinking; everybody he'd spoken to thought that after the fire she'd skipped town and were surprised when he mentioned she was still here and had stayed here the whole time. _It can't be both ways_, he thought. _Can it? Though spending the whole time hiding in the last place anybody saw you could be a good tactic, why wouldn't she immediately go to her old boss for help? If he loved her as much as he says he does, he'd have helped her..._ His thoughts were broken by Alphonse.

"So if you didn't talk to the reporters, nobody knew he was missing and nobody knew you were still here?" Anouk nodded, her eyes distant and conveying her own confusion. Alphonse sighed lightly. "Did anything unusual happen before he was kidnapped? Weird strangers hanging around, odd comments from anyone?" Anouk took Edward's now-empty coffee cup from him, pausing before rising from her chair to get a second.

"Well, I had a massive fight with my brother the week before, and just a few days prior I broke up with my boyfriend for the last time. But that was hardly anything unusual. But other than that?" Anouk paused, a tiny bell going off in her mind as images from that last fight with Robert played over in her head. "Yes, yes there was something. The last fight with Robert was weird; he came over, drunk and panicked, babbling about how I needed to get out of there if I knew what was good for me. He said I needed to take Adrian and run, before it was too late." She sat back down slowly, quietly stunned as a horrible thought came to mind. "Do you think Robert was involved in this?"Alphonse and Edward both shifted in their seats, looking uneasily at each other.

"Well, yes and no," Ed said. "From the things we've found and the people we've been talking to, his name is one of the names that keeps coming up, especially in regards to your last mission and adoption of Adrian. I'm pretty sure he had something to do with it, though." Anouk's knuckles whitened, gripping the cups angrily.

"That bastard," she growled. "I'll _kill_ him!"

"That... won't be possible, Ms. Anouk," Al said quietly. "Robert died two nights ago; he killed himself." Anouk blinked, not quite sure what to say or think, only quietly trembling as she slowly stood and drew in a shaky breath. Anouk was speechless and suddenly felt very alone and very betrayed.

"Excuse me for a minute, boys... I think I'll get more coffee..." Anouk walked back to the kitchen very slowly, her gait uneven as anger, sadness and confusion sent her mind and heart racing. _He's never been too close to Adrian_, she thought, shaking as bitter tears ran down her cheeks. _You wanted to marry me but wouldn't accept my son... You stupid ass..._ She covered her hand to muffle the sobs, leaning heavily on the counters. _Robert... what did you do? _

Ed and Al sat very quiet, distinctly able to hear the woman crying in the kitchen over the sound of the crackling fire. A cold chill zipped across the room, carrying the scent of fresh snow and damp wood, making the fire flicker angrily. They both glanced around to see if any of the windows were open or if another guest had entered; Ed shrugged as they concluded that they were still alone and the breeze must have come from a crack somewhere. Al continued staring at the door after the freak breeze had vanished; something caught his eye that he hadn't seen before. He left his seat, walking back toward the foyer and knelt down by the little wall that partitioned the foyer and the dining area and reached his hand out to pick up a small handful of snow.

He lifted the small pat of snow, showing it to Edward, who came up behind him for a closer look. Removing the glove from his flesh hand, Edward carefully poked a finger in the center of the pile. It was very real, and very cold, dotted with grime and bits of wet, rotten wood. Al picked up a damp, dead leaf from the floor where he'd found the snow.

"But where did it come from," Ed murmured quietly. "If it had been brought in with us, it should have melted by now."

"Find something interesting, boys?" Both boys nearly yelped, swiveling around to suddenly see Anouk once again sitting in her chair. They both looked back down to Al's hands but saw nothing but the brown leather of his gauntlets. Ed and Al stared, unsure of what just happened as they went back to their chairs. Anouk sat there, quietly sipping a fresh cup of coffee. Though the beverage was relaxing, her body was incredibly tense and her expression hard and dark, intense like a hunting animal.

"You said certain names keep coming up, as does my final mission while I served under Thompson," she said, trying to sheath the burning hurt in her voice. "I take it that means you've been told about what I used to do for a living?" Ed nodded grimly as Anouk sighed, rubbing at her temple briefly. "I guess my mother was right; the truth always catches up to you when you stop running, and nobody can run forever. I'm sorry you had to learn that about me; if I could undo my career path, I would."

"If you hadn't taken the assignments, you wouldn't have rescued Adrian from that laboratory. That is where he came from, isn't it?" Anouk paused as though scared to answer before mouthing 'yes'. Ed leaned forward, his eyes fixed on her to read her body language. "Did anybody know that Adrian came from Dr. Tesh's lab?"

"No, the only person who suspected was Thompson, but I know he'd never say anything. Adrian was the last number on the list that I was supposed to.... "_erase_..." so I saw no harm in keeping him, since the file had his data and he wasn't supposed to exist. Nobody would know he was missing since he wasn't supposed to be there, and Dr. Warrens would be none the wiser."

"Before he died, Robert mentioned Dr. Warrens and another chimera research alchemist named Shou Tucker. Did you know either of them, or talk to them? Maybe said something that tipped them off?"

"I remember Warrens, creepy old bastard. Only met him long enough to deliver the files and the living chimeras. He tried to be pleasant and ask how my trip was, but I was a wreck. I gave him the papers and the crated cages, he gave me my money and we parted ways. I don't think he ever even knew my real name; I always used a pseudonym for missions, Lucy L. But Shou Tucker? Never heard of him, but I didn't spend much time with the R&D department."

"He joined the Military about five years ago with a talking chimera," Al said quietly, trying to push away the sad connotations and memories associated with Shou. "And then he died about three years ago." Anouk shrugged/

"That'd be why I've never heard of him; he joined long after I quit and stopped keeping tabs on current Military affairs." She signed again, wiping at the corners of her eyes once more. "I don't know how he'd have known anything, though, if we never met." Anouk set her cup down and leaned forward, resting her forehead in her palm as her shoulders dropped. "I've made a lot of mistakes and horrible choices over the years, but I never thought for a moment that the punishment intended for me would fall on my son. And I'm sorry. Edward? Alphonse? I know it may not sound right, but I want you to have something."

"What's that," Al asked

"Over the years I made quite a lot of money from my missions and I couldn't put all of it into a bank at once, and then the money just didn't matter any more. There's a bank account still in my name, and I've left that to my family. But down in the cellar is a trunk that nobody's ever seen or known about, hiding under the floorboards. It's still completely full, to the top. I want you boys to have it. Just bring him home to me..." Tears resumed running down her cheeks silently as Ed tried to casually ignore the offer. He wasn't accustomed to taking bribes or rewards.

"Did you keep any of the files from Dr. Tesh?" Anouk sniffled lightly and sat back up.

"The files that I gave to Dr. Warrens mentioned Adrian, but I kept the last one that said he was successful and his medical chart. I didn't understand it all completely, but it talked about how he kept all of his human features and logged his fevers that came as a side effect. It gave instructions to duplicate the experiment to see if they got the same results and notes about repeating the entire process with the different babies and the different animals using the methods they used on Adrian to see if they were all as successful as he was... It was sick. I couldn't let anyone have that file, ever. Even if I couldn't save those other children, I wanted to at least prevent it from happening again. So I kept it and I hid it in one of the fire safes in the cellar, along with Adrian's legitimate medical records and prescriptions. But nobody knew about them, not even Adrian."

"If you never told anybody the truth, then everybody involved found out without your knowledge, and I'm pretty sure Robert was the catalyst. Could I have a look at the ones you have?" Anouk nodded, her head still resting in her hand.

"The stairs to the cellar are in the kitchen pantry. Look for the lower safe by the wine racks. The combination's Adrian's birthday: one-one-two-nine." Ed stood up, walking through the kitchen and into the large pantry and slowly made his way down the warped and rickety stairs that groaned with his every move and threatened to buckle under his slight weight. He turned up the knob for the gas light along the wall when he reached the bottom.

Even with the light turned up all the way, the cellar was still incredibly dark and cavernous, the dark and unlit corners looking more like they simply faded from existence into blackness. The floor was clear, leaving all the cases and crates lined on shelves and stacked along the walls. Heavy iron and lead fire safes encircled the room, small square ones stacked on top of each other and a long, deep one shoved against the wall nearest the stairs. Ed looked around for the wine racks and another light, stopping halfway across the floor, sniffing and wrinkling his nose in disgust. The smell was faint, sickeningly sweet and rancid, and only seemed to trail out to him in faint wafts. As he walked away from the wall toward the back, the smell ebbed and was mercifully replaced with the smell of cold winter air and dank wood and stone as he came close to the back door that led to the alley outside.

Ed reached up and turned on another gas light and looked up at the three very tall shelves lined from top to bottom with ancient, dusty bottles of wine, some labels dating back more than sixty years. In front of the middle rack stood two small safes, one on top of the other. He knelt down in the decaying wood, slowly turning the ancient lock, the slow gears grinding as though they hadn't been opened for years. The pin sprang back and the door popped open, a mess of papers spilling into his lap.

Alphonse sat in awkward quiet with Anouk, unsure of what to say or do, waiting for Ed to come back upstairs. He glanced back over to where he had seen the small patch of snow that had simply vanished. _Physical things don't simply vanish_, he thought. _And the snow was firm as though it weren't melting, even though in here it should be. There's something very strange going on here._ Al jolted suddenly when he turned his head back to see Anouk standing in front of him, her hands on his armored shoulders. She stared into the glowing orbs where his eyes should be and held him there, smiling softly.

"I just wanted to thank you," Anouk said, unmoving. "You have no idea how much yours and your brother's help means to me."

"You're welcome, Ms. Anouk," Alphonse quietly replied, feeling slightly claustrophobic suddenly. Finally she let go and resumed sitting, staring distantly into the fire. _That's it_, he thought, trying not to stare at her. _Something about _her_ frightens me. The way she stares at me! Like she's not looking at a suit of armor, but like she's seeing the real me, the real Alphonse. But I'm a soul bound to an object, and she doesn't know that, so that's not possible... Is it? _

The dust and dim light were beginning to make Ed's eyes water, and the trickling smell of rot was making him feel lightheaded as he shot up from the floor and ran back to the stairs, papers in hand. He came through the kitchen door, still brushing dust off of his body. Anouk and Al looked up at the grumbling, grimy boy. "All of Tesh's files," Ed grumbled. "Robert also said something about taking some files from you and showing them to Peter, and Peter showed them to Shou. He kept saying that it was all his fault." Anouk's fist clenched in fury, her voice growling as all remnant shards of love or sympathy for her ex-lover turning to ash.

"If the bastard weren't already dead, I'd kill him myself."


End file.
